


Love is Just a Game

by CartoonJessie



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-09-24 03:48:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9698633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CartoonJessie/pseuds/CartoonJessie
Summary: [Modern Day Hooked Wayfinder AU] When couchsurfing globetrotter Maui meets backpacking student Moana in the Harrods store in London, they are complete strangers in a part of the world that is unfamiliar to them both. Circumstances lead to them participating in a prestigious Valentine’s Day competition, pretending to be lovers, just for laughs. But when they actually win a holiday together, they learn that playing pretend that they’re in a relationship isn’t as hard as they thought it would be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Valentine's Week gift to all you Hooked Wayfinder shippers out there that are in the mood for some romance, fluff, smut or whatever. :-P Hope you'll enjoy!   
> (Not giving up on Our Future Together, just want to give you all a little Valentine's Day treat!) (Hope to finish this entire story within a week.)

Harrods was ridiculous.

It was ridiculously beautiful and ridiculously extravagant and ridiculously expensive and ridiculously casual about the amazing main prize for their Valentine’s competition.

Near one of the entrances, they had set up a photo booth, and if you donated five pounds to a good cause, you’d get to participate in the competition.

The main price? A thousand pounds to spend in Harrods and a weekend away in a five-star-hotel, though the location of that hotel was a mystery to all.

He could do with being pampered. He’d been travelling for too long, sleeping on stranger’s couches and in shabby hostels. London was too loud for him – too crowded – and way too cold – and though he loved to explore the world, this particular city had made him a little homesick.

He hadn’t been home in years, and for the first time in ages, he felt lonely. Usually he tried to tell himself that the attention and care of his hosts was all the affection he needed – but he had already forgotten the names of most of his hosts of the past year. Though he was truly grateful for their cares, he was moving about the world at such a fast pace that he sometimes forgot to care about the people that took it upon themselves to care for him for a few days.

As a couple emerged from the photo booth, they waited for the pictures to be printed, and they handed them over to an employee who hung the small pictures on a massive board, for everyone to see.

Stepping closer, he examined the photos of the many couples and the ways in which they had displayed their affection. Whoever was going to judge these images, was going to have a hard time. The people were so ordinary, but often looked so happy and so in love. He felt a pang of jealousy because of it.

He stood there for quite a long while, looking at those images, tormenting himself while he did so. He knew that many other people stopped to look at those pictures as well, but he didn’t pay attention to them. As much as he loved travelling and exploring, the thought of settling down sometimes sneaked up on him – but he only wanted to do so when he found someone that made his life just as big an adventure.

He became vaguely aware that someone had been standing next to him now – for quite a while longer than most other people had before. Turning his head slightly, he caught sight of a beautiful orchid in long curly hair – and his mouth dropped a little bit. He wasn’t used to seeing girls wear flowers in their hair in these parts of Europe – nor was it normal that anyone would have such a flower in their hair in the beginning of February – nor had he seen such a beautiful girl in ages.

She seemed to be Polynesian, like him, and as she felt his eyes on her and turned her head, he gulped nervously. Her smile was beautiful though, and she didn’t seem bothered by his staring at all. Quite the opposite, it seemed like she had been staring at him for a while as well.

“You seem very focused on these pictures,” she remarked. “Are you the judge?”

He wasn’t often at a loss for words – in fact, he was quite a hero when it came to making small-talk, but she had caught him unawares, and he felt his stomach jump because of it.

“Me?” he asked with a rather nervous smile. “Nah, I’m eh… I’m just looking.”

“Did you participate?” she continued, turning to look at the small pictures again, but he didn’t take his eyes off her just yet. She was radiant. Though it was cold outside and she wore a thick beige winter coat and a long red scarf, she seemed to emanate warmth – the kind that he remembered from hot summer days on the beach, chilling with friends, having barbecues in the sand and drinking fruity cocktails by the fire.

He knew that he was feeling too melancholic that day, but she reminded him of home so much – even though he figured she probably wasn’t from New Zealand. He guessed that she was from Hawaii.

Caught in memories and dreams, he forgot to reply, and as she suddenly turned to him with a worried gaze, he shook his head.

“No, no, I didn’t participate. Couples only, apparently.”

He pointed out the rules that hung to the side, and she sighed.

“Yeah, shame,” she muttered disappointedly. “The prizes are amazing. Besides the main prize, ten people win a hundred pounds of shopping credit here.”

He was quiet for a few moments, staring at her, his heart feeling lost already, and his mind numb because of it. He could die then and there without even noticing it happening, because he assumed that this was what heaven was like as well.

She was still looking at the pictures and suddenly came to a shocking realization. Frowning before she looked at him, her gaze brightened as she had come up with an amazing idea.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she suddenly asked him, and he gulped.

He doubted that she had been thinking about how beautiful she was, and so he shook his head honestly.

“We could participate!” she proposed eagerly, and as she saw how his eyes lit up too, she realized that the spontaneity of the proposal wasn’t offensive to him – far from it.

“It has to be tasteful though,” he said. “Some of these pics are a bit vulgar – I mean, I doubt the organization is looking for pictures in which couples show quite as much tongue as some of these peoples do.”

She nodded in agreement. “Yes. We don’t even have to kiss, just get a few romantic shots. There’s four small pictures. We gotta make sure that all four of them are different. Some of these people have all four pictures looking the same, I can’t imagine they’ll win either.”

“No, and we should take off our jackets too,” he proposed. “People look stuffed – it just doesn’t make for a good-looking picture.”

The moment he said it, she was already opening her jacket and taking off her scarf and putting the scarf in her wide shoulder bag. She was wearing a beautiful necklace – beautiful to him, at least. The blue circle-shaped shell reminded him of home, and it was carved with great detail.

He missed his own necklace as he looked at it – one that he had left at home before he had begun his journeys so many years back. It was a tooth-necklace, made of all sorts of animal and fish teeth, and he now wished he had it on him, just so he could show her and see how she’d respond to it.

As he took off his jacket, she was looking at him though, realizing that it wasn’t just his winter jacket that made him buff. She had seldom seen anyone as big as him, and she thought his long hair was more beautiful than hers. His curls were perfect, and his skin looked radiant.

“Are you a model?” she wondered, and as he offered her a wide smile and she noticed the cleft between his teeth, she could not help but blush a little. He felt like a neighbor to her, even if she truly didn’t know him.

“I’ve done some modelling,” he admitted, though he added hastily: “But I’ve done many things, honestly. Gotta try everything once.”

She was amused by that statement – it was one by which she tried to live too.

“Ever pretended to have a girlfriend just to win at a competition?” she wondered teasingly.

“Nope. Trying that right now,” he replied with a wink, and she chuckled again.

“Alright. We need to come up with four ideas for these pictures. I was thinking, I could maybe put my arms around your shoulders and give you a kiss on the cheek on the first one?”

He was honestly happy that she felt enough at ease with him to do just that, and he added: “Should I go for an amused or a surprised gaze in that one?”

She considered it. “Go for amused. Surprised might make it too funny, and we’re trying to go for a romantic mood.”

“Good point…” He stroked his chin for a moment as he tried to come up with more ideas. “How about one casual one where we just happily look into the camera?”

She agreed. “Yes. We can start with that one. First the one where we smile happily into the camera, sitting closely together, then the one where I put my arms around your shoulders and give you a kiss on the cheek…”

“Oh, and maybe then one where I give you the flower that’s in your hair?” he suggested.

She seemed pleasantly surprised by that idea. “Oh that’s a great idea. Very romantic. Then for the last one…”

“A honi,” he said without hesitation, and from the way her eyes lit up, he knew she liked that idea as much as he did.

“Brilliant! You’re a genius!”

He smiled at her high praise. “The credit goes to you though – you were the one that came up with the idea to participate together. I’m just trying to be an equal participant, worthy of my share of the prize money if we do win a hundred pounds with this.”

She grinned and teased him: “All about the money, huh?”

“Just like you, curly.”

Smiling because of that nickname, she offered him her hand. “Moana, actually.”

Taking her hand, he lifted it to his lips and pressed a small kiss to it, winking at her. “Maui.”

She was doing her very best not to swoon. He was pretty amazing to her standards: creative, funny, and handsome too, though maybe not in a conventional way.

She could not help but wonder about him: was he this flirty with all girls? Why was he even in London? What island did he come from? Did he have a girlfriend? How old was he? If he was no longer a model now, then what did he do for a living?

Part of her wanted to know everything about him, but another part also wanted to go and get the pictures taken before he could change his mind, and as a couple emerged from the photo booth, she took him by the hand and pulled him towards it, taking five pounds from her pocket to give it to one of the staff that was cashing in the entrance fee for charity.

She dropped her bag and jacket in front of the booth, and he did the same, only realizing how small the booth was when he followed her in. There was only one small round seat there, and as she was still standing in the tiny booth, he sat down, offering her to sit on his lap.

Carefully, she sat herself down on his knee, and as they looked at themselves in the screen while the booth was filming them, it appeared that they were both a little anxious.

“Alright, we gotta relax,” Maui said decisively, closing his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath, and she was quick to follow his example, doing the same.

“Okay,” she said with quiet determination when she was ready. “First a normal one where we both smile. Then one where I kiss you on the cheek. Then one where you give me the flower from my hair. Then a honi.”

“Got it.” He had his finger on the button that would begin the series of pictures. “Ready?”

“Yep!”

Her cheerful tone relaxed him, and a small beeping countdown warned them that the first picture was about to be taken. Once that one was done, there was a countdown from ten to one, and Moana put her arms around his neck while he placed his carefully in her sides, and only at the last second did she press a gentle kiss to his cheeks, and he looked rather peaceful as he was on the receiving side of such a lovely kiss.

The moment the countdown began anew, he was quick to pluck the flower from her hair, and he also made sure that her hair was perfectly into place before he offered it to her, a flirty expression in his eyes while Moana seemed to be genuinely turning red in the face because of it. He wondered if it was an act, but he knew that the way she bit her lip and blushed made him feel the kind of nausea that only a love-struck fool would feel.

As he lowered the flower in his hands for the final picture, he felt how she put her hands on his, even if they were out of the frame, and as she leaned her forehead against his, he closed his eyes, inhaling her breath and wondering if she felt the same urge to kiss him like he felt for her.

He wouldn’t though, but his lips were slightly parted as he looked down at those soft lips of hers, and he hoped he hadn’t ruined the picture. He had completely forgotten about the countdown and only realized it was done when she pulled away from him again. She didn’t get off his knee immediately though, and instead took a deep breath.

“Well, here goes!” she said hopefully, though there also seemed to be some regret in her voice. “Let’s go and see how our pictures ended up!”

As she got up from his knee and headed outside the booth, he was quick to follow, glad that their bags and jackets were still there, and as they put them on again, they waited for the pictures to be printed.

When they came out of the machine, Moana was the one to take them and look at them first, but he was right beside her, looking over her shoulder.

He was shocked, to say the least. Nothing could have prepared him for the feeling as though someone had just hit him in the head with a hammer. They looked amazing together. Happy – in love – everything that he truly wanted to be. To realize that they’d just been acting caused a terrible ache in his heart, and he had never wanted for a lie to be true as much as he did in that moment.

Why couldn’t they really be together though?

“Write your phone number on the back of the picture,” one of the staff told them, offering them a marker which Moana took.

Keeping her voice down so the staffer couldn’t hear, she proposed: “I’ll write down mine, and you can enter it in your cellphone too and send me a message? I’ll let you know if we do win anything. They announce the winners tomorrow.”

As she began writing down her number, he was quick to take his phone out of his pocket and enter her number, and only a moment later was he calling her. Upon hearing her phone go off – amused to hear the first notes of Logo te Pate – he hung up again, knowing that she had his number now.

He trusted her to be of her word and call him if they won. He didn’t think she’d lie to him or keep the prize money to herself.

“Let me get a picture of this too though,” she said as she got out her own smartphone and made a few pictures of their entry.

He felt rather honored that she would like to keep a reminder of their entry on her phone, and he did the same, snapping a few pictures of their photos before he put his phone away again.

She handed the picture over to the staff member, who put it up along with the other pictures on the board, and Moana took a deep breath, crossing her fingers.

“Well… Let’s hope that tomorrow, I’ll get a call.”

As she smiled at Maui, she realized that perhaps this was where they’d need to say goodbye.

“Are you free tomorrow?” she wondered. “If we win, I mean. We’re probably going to have to drop by here to pick up the prize.”

He nodded. “Shouldn’t be an issue. I should be in London for a while longer.” For a moment he wondered if he should ask her to hang with him that day, but he was lacking the courage to do just that. He honestly didn’t know her, and he didn’t want to creep her out.

“Alright…” She bit her lip for a moment as she considered something, but eventually said: “I will let you know tomorrow if we win something… Hopefully we’ll have a reason to meet up again?”

His heart jumped at those words. Perhaps she did not intend it that way, but she made it sound like she wanted to meet up with him again, and he wondered if he should voice that he felt the same.

There was no time however, because she was already leaning in and standing on her tiptoes to give him a kiss to the cheek.

Baffled and surprised, he just looked at her as she said: “See ya, Maui!”

By the time he found his voice again, she was already gone in the crowd, and he could not remember when he had felt his heart flutter quite like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Part of her cursed herself for not asking Maui to go have a drink with her, or to ask him along to play tourist while she explored London on her own. It would have been so much more fun if she had had someone by her side to witness the changing of the guard, or to walk through Hyde Park with. Not to mention that it would be fun if someone from a similar cultural background had been with her in the National Museum, making sense of European art throughout history.

But then again, she still didn’t know if he was truly from her culture or not. Sure, his name was Maui, like the demigod famous from the mythology of her own island, but the demigod’s persona was well-known throughout all the pacific islands, not just Hawaii. It wasn’t that common a name either – at least not where she lived.

She honestly had no idea where he actually came from, and it bothered her a bit.

When she returned to her hostel in the evening, she was glad to see that she was alone in the room. The strangers that she had shared her room with the night before weren’t there. Two girls from Poland and another from Germany had been there, but the one from Germany had already packed and left, and she wondered if someone else was to join them for the night. The girls from Poland were off to see a play and would then go out for drinks, so she didn’t know if she’d see them before she fell asleep.

All alone in the cheap and creaky bed, she grabbed her smartphone and looked back at the pictures, zooming in to study the man she had met that morning.

She was amazed by how buff he was – but even more amazed by how attracted she was to him. His body – his hair – his eyes… He did things to her, just by existing. And he wasn’t just strong and funny, he was sweet and gentle too. She saw that in the pictures where she kissed him on the cheek, or where he offered her the flower… She hoped that the pictures weren’t lying about those traits of his personality, and she honestly had to admit that she was a little disappointed that he had not sent her a message or anything of the sort so far. He had her number too, after all…

Then again, perhaps he was trying not to be a creep, or perhaps he was very busy with important things, and he had had no time to think of her.

_Or perhaps he already had a girlfriend…_

The thought alone nearly broke her heart, but she insisted to herself that he didn’t – and that if he did, he wouldn’t have agreed to enter the game with her so easily.

She forbade herself to give into her darker thoughts, and she didn’t allow herself to give in to her feelings either, wonderful as they were. Chances were big that he wasn’t from Hawaii or anywhere near it, and once she returned home in a month, he wouldn’t be able to join her. What then? Did she really want to go through that heartbreak?

A small voice told her that, perhaps, some adventures were worth heartbreak – and wasn’t this one of those things she would always regret if she just ignored her instincts on this?

Taking a deep breath, she came to a decision then. She could send him a message – and perhaps he’d reply so briefly that she’d be forever upset with him. But that wouldn’t be bad. At least that would give her closure.

She pondered about the content of the message for about fifteen minutes before she finally sent it out, and little did she know that he had been watching their pictures the very moment that her text came in.

Seated in a corner of a pub with some pineapple juice (something which was hard to find in London, but which he had felt a particular favor for that evening), he smiled when he saw the message came from her, and his heart nearly beat through his chest.

Laying eyes upon the text, he skimmed over it at least three times, smiling to himself.

_“Hey handsome, was just looking at our pictures and feeling really hopeful that we stand a good shot at winning one of those prizes! Hope you’re having a great evening! Xxx – Moana”_

He chuckled and bit his lip as he analyzed her words. She called him ‘handsome’. He hoped it wasn’t because she had forgotten his real name. And the three x’s at the end… Kisses… _She was so sweet!_

He drank from his pineapple juice before he typed back: _“If we win, the credit must go to your beauty and grace. I really hope we’ll need to meet up in Harrods again tomorrow. Would truly be hilarious if we were to win one of the prizes, beating actual couples and married people to it!”_

Once he sent that message, he kept on checking his mobile, but no message came for about seven minutes. When it did, however, he felt a rush of adrenaline inside him again.

_“Whether we win or not, we have to admit that we look good together. I’m showing these pics to my dad next time he asks me if I’m hiding a secret boyfriend somewhere.”_

He chuckled again, but he wasn’t sure what to reply. Part of him wanted to say that he was willing to be more than just a secret boyfriend – but that probably would have scared her off. He didn’t want to come on too strong. Another part of him wanted to ask more about her, but he wasn’t sure if she would appreciate that. Thinking for a long while, he eventually came up with the perfect response – or at least he couldn’t imagine a better one at that moment.

_“If we don’t win, will you allow me to buy you a drink tomorrow evening? You could take more pics of me to show your dad next time you’re home. I’ll wear another sweater. Should make for a more convincing story to tell your dad.”_

Once he pressed ‘send’, he let out a deep breath and then drank the last of his pineapple juice. He got up and paid the bartender money as he headed back to the shabby apartment of his host, checking his phone a few times, and his heart sinking to the pit of his stomach as he realized she hadn’t responded yet. Ten minutes past… then twenty… and he was beginning to fear that he had creeped her out and that she would never respond, and only by the time he was in the street where his host lived, did his cell phone bleep. He anxiously bit his lip as he read her message.

_“We should totally do that. I was thinking of going to the London Eye tomorrow evening. Will you join me? We could meet up outside Foyles Bookshop at Waterloo Station and walk to the Eye together, and perhaps grab something to eat on the way there?”_

He couldn’t resist slamming his fist in the air in victory, letting out a joyous “Ha!” before he did a little dance and tried to come up with something to respond to her.

Standing still, he quickly wrote back: _“Sounds perfect. If we don’t win anything, let me know a time and place tomorrow and I’ll be there.”_

It was quiet after that, and as he was let in by his host, he bade the man a good evening before he retreated to the tiny guestroom, sleeping on a mattress in-between the vacuum cleaner and airfryer and waffle maker that the good man kept in the semi-closet, but he wasn’t bothered by that at all.

The morning after, he’d make his host a great breakfast, and then once the man was gone, he would take a long shower so he’d be perfect for his date with Moana. He’d drop by the bank to get some extra cash out. He was usually on a strict budget, but when it came to Moana, he would spend half his savings if it meant he could do right by her. He truly wanted to impress her. How often was he going to meet a girl like her or get a chance to win her affections?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to give credit to two wonderful artists who have posted Valentine's Day Hooked Wayfinder arts today. First up is Dani, who is very special to me because she chats with me every night and keeps me motivated to write. (So you guys have her to thank as well for my fast updates!) Her art is gorgeous, but she's new to Tumblr and doesn't get as many notes as I'd like to see her get... If you can support her, please do. Her Tumblr username is daniela-miha-arts and you'll find a very hot art on her blog today of Maui and Moana kissing. It's great. <3
> 
> Another great artist is zabchan - her Tumblr is zabchansketchbook, and she also posted a very hot Moana/Maui kiss today. She is also one of my fav fellow Hooked Wayfinder shippers on Tumblr, so do check out that wonderful Valentine's Day art as well! :-) 
> 
> I feel like I get so much love from you guys already, but don't forget to thank the artists as well for their hard work. One picture that we glance over in 10 seconds often takes as long as it takes me to write a chapter that you read for 10 minutes. Give them some love. <3


	3. Chapter 3

He was wearing his finest pants and sweater as he waited around his host’s house that afternoon. During the morning, after his host had left for work, he had cleaned the entire place, done a bit of working out, and then taken a long shower. Now, he could not stop fiddling with his smartphone.

Whenever he saw that she hadn’t sent him anything, he would look at their pictures, and then he’d look up the timetables to make a decent estimate on how long it would take him to make it to Waterloo station. He wanted to leave as soon as possible.

But in the meanwhile he was restless. The apartment was too small and he felt like he would climb up the walls if she didn’t send him a text soon, and so when the phone suddenly rang, he did not hesitate one moment before he picked up.

“Hello?” he blurted out like an idiot, but it seemed like she didn’t even notice that.

“Maui!” she cried happily in his ear. “We did it! We won! First prize!”

He felt his heart beat happily in his throat. “First prize?!” he repeated. Upon realizing that they had just won a bucket load of money, he nearly screamed: “Are you kidding me?!”

He started laughing as he realized how silly it was that they would have won first place, and he heard how she joined him on her side of the line.

“They just called me!” she told him happily. “We won the prize money, but also a few nights away from London!” Her voice became a little more careful as she continued: “They won’t say which location, but they told me we should pack up for three nights at some sort of a luxury resort.”

He was very quiet too, his throat feeling a little thick. He was going away with her – for three nights – or at least it sounded like that. She was inviting him, not someone else. She wasn’t making excuses or trying to push him away, but still he needed to be sure: “Are you comfortable having me along for that? Are you sure you don’t want to bring a friend?”

“I don’t mind,” she tried to say as lightly as she could, but he could hear that she was a little afraid. “Besides, we won this prize as a couple… I can’t just show up with a random girl and leave you out of it. You’re supposed to be my boyfriend.”

“Valid point,” he agreed, but still he was a little nervous. “Alright. I’ll pack up my stuff then and head towards Harrods. Guess we’re not going to the London Eye then?”

Her chuckle on the other side of the line relieved him.

“Well, if I’m not sick of you when the holiday is over, we might still have time for that.”

He laughed, feeling a little relaxed that she too realized that perhaps this wouldn’t go great – even if he wanted it to more than anything. He would still try and make the best of it.

“Well, I’m curious about this mystery holiday we’re getting,” he decided bravely. “I shall wait for you outside of Harrods. I’ll pack up my stuff now. I think I’ll be there in an hour.”

“Great! I’ll see you there!”

“Bye!” he said nervously.

“Bye, Maui!”

As he put down his phone, he felt numb for a few seconds, the circumstances a little terrifying.

But then, as he realized that this was exactly what he had hoped for – for a chance to get to know her, to impress her and win her affections, he started grinning.

He could do this. He could try to win her heart, or die trying. If it ended badly, then at least he would not have himself to blame. He was going to try harder than he had ever tried anything in his life. He wanted love so badly that he only hoped he wasn’t holding Moana up to some impossible standard. Hopefully he had been right about her and she truly was the girl of his dreams. At the least, she would be a lovely companion for Valentine’s Day.

Packing up his stuff as quickly as he could, he wrote a note to his host and left it on the kitchen table, and with his backpack swung over his shoulder, he hurried to the subway, eager to see Moana again.

 

 

 

As he stood in front of Harrods, he was once again fiddling with his smartphone, wondering if he had missed a message of her by any chance, when she suddenly sneaked up on him from the side.

“Hey there, boyfriend!” she said teasingly, a wide grin on her face as she looked at him, and the joy he felt at seeing her beautiful face made his grin even wider.

“Girlfriend!” he teased her back, giving her a big hug, which she happily returned.

Upon noticing that she was carrying a heavy backpack in her hand, he immediately took it from her, lifting it on his shoulder.

“I’ll take that,” he offered happily, and she was quite impressed by his strength. “What’s in here?” he wondered. “Quite heavy for a girl bag.”

She chuckled. “Actually, packed some drinks. Minibars at hotels are usually expensive and I doubt they’ll include free consumptions in the holiday we won.”

He was actually impressed by the cleverness of that – and a little grateful that she understood the concept of saving up on money.

“Any chance you’ll share those drinks with me?” he asked teasingly, and he was surprised by how genuinely pleased she seemed to be there with him.

“Of course!” she said warmly. “Couldn’t have won this prize without you. Shall we go in and see what our prize is all about?”

He nodded quickly. “Can’t wait to find out. But just to be on the safe side… Might be best if you do all the talking. I’ll play the strong and silent type.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“You seem like the strong type, but honestly not so much like the silent one.”

He chuckled again, grinning at her. “You already seem to know me like a true girlfriend would. But trust me, it’s in both of our interest if I play dumb. If you allow me to talk, I’ll make it way too easy for them to figure out we’re not actually a couple.”

She nodded, but as he moved to head inside, she put her hand on his chest and lightly held him back.

“I just want to know a few little things before we head in there. Who knows what they’ll ask us. How old are you?”

He hesitated for a small moment, but figured that there was no sense in hiding the truth from her. “Thirty-three,” he replied honestly, feeling a little nervous that it would be an immediate turn-off for her, but she didn’t seem offended by his age at all. “You?”

“Twenty-four,” she answered quickly, and he was relieved by that. She looked younger, but he was glad that there was only a nine-year-gap between them. She didn’t give him a chance to remark upon it and immediately continued with her next question: “Where are you from?”

That question was easier to answer. “New Zealand, originally. But lived on many Polynesian islands as a kid and travelled most of the world as an adult. You are from Hawaii, right?”

She nodded.

“Actual Hawaii?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Oahu then?”

She shook her head again.

Pulling up his nose, he asked: “Maui?”

She chuckled. “No, imagine how awkward that would have been… Girl from Maui having a boyfriend called Maui.”

He grinned, but was trying to come up with the names of the other islands he was missing out on.

“Kauai, actually,” she enlightened him as she saw his deep frown as he failed to come up with the other island names. “It’s the fourth largest of the islands. The most northern one. Anyways…” She winked at him before she walked in, and he followed her, surprised when she suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him along like this was normal for them – like they always walked hand in hand like that – and it only took a few steps to convince him that he truly wanted it to be like that.

Apparently she knew more than he did about what to do or where to go, and he remained quiet as she led him to the information desk, where she did not need to introduce herself.

“They’re here!” one of the staff members cried out happily, and many heads turned as the young man had quite a shrill voice.

Moana was blushing at the fact that apparently these people had all seen their pictures and recognized them so easily. Their gazes were very curious, and she felt awkward under all that attention. 

The flamboyant young man that had recognized them so fast, was now also the one to pick up on her awkwardness and shoo'd his colleagues off, and they immediately continued with what they’d been doing. 

"I'm George," he introduced himself with an extended hand, smiling widely at the two of them.

"I'm Moana," she replied politely, shaking his hand.

"Maui," he replied as he did the same.

George's mouth dropped slightly.

"Moana and Maui... Such beautiful names! Where are you from? Are you tourists?"

"Yes," she replied quickly. "I'm originally from Hawaii and he's originally from New Zealand."

"Oh my!" George was very impressed. "Such a long distance relationship! I mean… That is far apart, isn’t it? Not so good in geography.” He chuckled nervously, before he continued quickly: “Have you been together for long?"

"Not long enough, in my opinion!" Moana said smoothly, and Maui chuckled as he appreciated her quick wit.

"Well..." As George walked behind his desk, he went into a drawer and got out a big, golden envelope. "I will ask a cab to come and pick you up to bring you to your hotel. It's all supposed to be a big surprise, so I won't reveal the location to you just yet, but you will be heading to a five-star-hotel with incredible wellness facilities - I saw it on their website. It's so amazing there, you'll love it." As he pulled a store card out of the envelope and handed it to them, he added: "There is a thousand pounds on this card. Here is your code for it… You could save the card for later, but I would personally advise you to buy some swimming gear if you don't have it packed yet. You might regret not being able to go for a swim if you don't have a bathing suit."

Moana was eager to hear that there would be a swimming pool. She loved swimming - yet she had been sensible enough not to pack any swimming gear when she came to the UK. It wasn’t exactly a place where she had imagined to go for a swim.

“Anything else you advise us to buy for the holiday?” Moana asked, and George seemed to ponder it, rubbing his chin as he did so.

“There is a ball tomorrow – at the hotel. Valentine’s ball. It is quite a fancy place, so maybe some formal clothes?”

Maui frowned at that. It wasn’t that he disliked wearing formal clothes, it was that he didn’t want to spend money buying them. He wouldn’t be using them after tomorrow, and it was almost like Moana had somehow picked up on his change in mood, for she looked at him and noticed the small frown on his face.

Putting the card away in her wallet, she nodded gratefully.

“Thank you for your advice, George. What time do we need to be back here for the cab?”

“Oh, take your time,” George said warmly. “We can keep your bags in a storage room while you shop. And the cab waits for you, not the other way around. Should be here within thirty minutes, but take as long as you need.”

“Thank you,” Moana said, and Maui did the same before they handed over their bags and turned around.

They waited until they were out of earshot before they spoke to each other again.

“You don’t seem eager to buy anything for the ball…” Moana said softly, not judging him at all, and Maui realized that she was very perceptive – too perceptive, perhaps. She softly continued: “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

At those words, he startled a little, and he quickly assured her: “No, I want to go. Truly, I would love to go. I like a nice party and dancing and all that… It’s just… A decent suit – one fit for a five star hotel – would probably cost a fortune.”

He shut up at that. He was already sounding like a cheap whiner just for mentioning it, while he had intended to impress Moana. It wasn’t working out for him. He sounded like he had very little money, and though it wasn’t far from the truth, he didn’t want to have Moana think that he would not be able to provide for her, would she ever allow it to come to that.

Moana nodded slowly. “I truly love shopping for dresses – but whatever fancy dress I’d buy here, I would never wear at home. Why don’t we just buy something new but casual to wear? That way it wouldn’t be a complete waste of the money.” She was being very practical about it, and shamelessly so. “I mean… You could buy black pants, just a nice shirt… Maybe a waistcoat or something… Wouldn’t need to be too expensive, I suppose? And there should be dresses out there that aren’t too fancy and not too cold or hot to wear at such a party. I’ve got some shoes packed that could work for such an event…” She seemed to consider it for a few moments. “Let’s just go for it. Shall we split up for a while?”

Though he really liked her and wanted to spend more time with her, he figured that it would be a good idea to shop solo for now. He didn’t really want her around when he looked for boxer shorts or pants in his size. It would be a small miracle if he would find any, he thought.

As they split up, he went about his shopping as fast as he could. Finding swimming shorts wasn’t as hard as he had imagined. When he went to look for some pants, one of the employees offered his help and assured him that they could do some minor adjustments to whatever he decided to buy if it wasn’t a perfect fit.

Expressing his concern that those pants would not be done on time, he was interrupted by a familiar voice - George from the reception, who looked incredibly pleased that he was able to assist Maui in this. 

"Do not worry. We can have these pants by your hotel by tomorrow morning. We are one of its daily suppliers and it would be no trouble at all to rush this delivery.”

Honestly surprised, but very grateful, Maui accepted the help he could get, and with the assistance of George – who had quite an eye for style, among other things – Maui was able to get himself a nice outfit for the ball. Black pants – white shirt – dark gray waistcoat – and shiny black shoes.

Honestly, he felt a little guilty about spending so much money on it – it was worth over two hundred eighty pounds already – but he hoped it would help him win Moana over.

He also bought a set of new socks, new underwear… Things he usually didn’t treat himself to. His clothes weren’t particularly fancy, but they were decent, and his underwear was usually the last thing he worried about. It didn’t matter to him if it was years old or very cheap, as long as it was clean, but he had to admit to himself that the last thing he wanted for Moana was to fall for him while he looked great in his new clothes, only to discover he wore old underwear underneath.

Perhaps he was already rushing things in his mind, for there was no indication that she had any desire to see him in his underpants at this point, and he tried not to think about it, before he had to explain an awkward boner to George, who seemed to be into him more than Moana was.

The young man could not stop asking about where Maui was from, if he was naturally so tan (a question he took no offense to, being used to such questions from several of his hosts in Europe), how much he worked out, if he had always been so buff, and how he took care of his hair.

Maui happily indulged him, but by the time he had everything he thought he could possibly need, he was eager to be reunited with Moana, and as he said: “I wonder where my girlfriend is…”, George disappeared for a small moment, indicating to Maui that he should wait. When he returned a minute later, he happily led Maui away from the men’s section.

“She’s on the ground floor. Near the jelly beans.”

Maui was confused, and a little terrified, but George happily explained: “Camera’s everywhere. Helps with security or locating missing children. Or in your case: a missing girlfriend.”

Chuckling to himself, he happily followed George to the ground floor, finding Moana as she was stocking up on candy.

As George took Maui’s clothes with him to check them out at one of the desks, Maui went up to Moana as she was filling a box with nothing but jelly beans, an eager look on her face as she looked at all the flavors.

“Find everything you need?” Maui asked, and as she recognized his voice, she happily turned his way, smiling radiantly.

“Yes! Very easily so! How did you find me? Do you want some jelly beans too?”

She asked that last question too eagerly – like she expected him to say that he had not been able to get those jelly beans out of his mind, while they had been the last thing he had been thinking of.

“Actually…” Was it a trick question? He tried not to think too long about it. “Sure! But not necessarily a new box… Are you willing to share yours?”

“Of course!” she replied kindly, and as she continued to fill up her box, he followed her curiously, learning that she took a liking to most fruity flavors, especially pineapple and strawberries. She looked at the coconut-flavored jelly beans for a long time, suddenly saying: “My dad would go nuts about those.” Turning to him, she asked: “Do you want some?”

He shrugged. “Why not? I like coconuts.”

She smiled softly. “Me too.”

She seemed a little wistful to him, like she was missing home, and he was curious about that, but he wasn’t going to ask her in the middle of the candy isle, where excited teens were making a little too much noise for him. He felt ready to leave, and he was happy when she expressed the same desire.

“Let’s go. Is George around?”

Maui saw that he had been waiting behind the desk, and that he was packing up their belongings in some nice bags.

“Ready to leave?” he asked as he saw Moana and Maui approach. “Let me help you get everything. The cab should be in the back. Once you’ve paid, I’ll happily escort you.”

Moana took out the gift card again and handed it to George, and in the meanwhile, Maui enjoyed watching the tourists around him.

Though George seemed intent on carrying everything himself, Maui realized that the boy would fold double if he needed to carry their heavy bags and all their new belongings, and he insisted he’d carry their backpacks himself, taking them out of George’s arms before he could resist.

Moana chuckled to herself, finding the sight of George nearly succumbing to the heavy bags a little more amusing than she should have.

Once outside, they were surprised by the sight of the cab though. It looked more like a small limo, and the driver looked fancier than Maui and Moana themselves felt. He bade them a good day and held the door open for them, and as they got in the backseat, they saw there was even a television and a small locker and fridge.

As they exchanged a quiet look with one another, it was clear from their faces that they weren’t used to being spoiled in such a way, and as they sat down, they heard George wish them a great holiday, asking them to drop by to tell him how it had been once they were back.

They waved at him as the cab left, and Moana chuckled once he was out of sight.

“Well… That was fun… We spent quite a lot of money already… Only a little more than three hundred and fifty pounds left now.”

Maui whistled, feeling a little guilty about that. “Yeah, I went a little bit over what I wanted to spend.”

“Me too,” she admitted immediately. “But it’s alright. It’s not every day we need to prepare for such an exquisite holiday, is it?”

Once again she had that radiant smile on her face, and Maui’s soon matched hers. She was simply too beautiful, and he could not believe his luck.

He did not reach out for the television remote, and neither did she, but he did open the fridge, seeing tiny bottles of orange juice, water and coke in there, as well as one small bottle of bubbles.

He usually didn’t drink alcohol before dinner, but he gladly made an exception as he took out the bottle and showed it to Moana.

“Shall we have a toast in celebration of winning?”

She seemed to hesitate for only a brief moment, but soon nodded.

“Yes!” She was the one to open the small cupboard next to the fridge, and found the glasses they needed there.

She held the glasses while Maui carefully popped the bottle, and as he filled them up, she couldn’t help but admire his size. His hands were huge, and he himself seemed too big for the limo too, even if it was one of the largest cars she’d ever been in.

When he put the bottle back in the fridge, she offered him his glass, and he looked her in the eyes with a warm smile, turning further towards her. She was already feeling how her heart started to beat faster because of it, and licked her lips nervously.

“Let’s drink to an amazing holiday together…” he said, sounding a little shy, but incredibly hopeful as he added: “I know that I can consider myself very lucky to be spending Valentine’s Day with you…”

He was too sweet, and she blushed at his words. “I will drink to that too… It’s already been such a surprising day, and we have hardly even left Harrods behind... I can’t wait for the other surprises that are sure to follow.”

“Me neither,” Maui agreed, his cheeks flushing. “Shall we drink to surprises then?”

“That too… And to having the best Valentine’s Day possible tomorrow!”

Her eager smile was back, and he felt his heart flutter and his hands tremble and his stomach tighten because of it. She was making him a little nervous for what was to come – but it was a good kind of nervous. He hoped that she too was hoping that it would be a romantic day.

Deciding to be honest, he kept his voice down, afraid the cab driver would hear: “I hope I can be worthy of your affections for one day, even if it’s just pretend.”

She was baffled by the sincerity in his tone, and didn’t know what to say for a brief moment. Her surprised look soon turned into another warm smile, and she admitted: “I don’t think it will be difficult to pretend to love you.”

He gulped heavily as he looked into her eyes, seeing that she wasn’t jesting about it. She was just as sincere as he was, and her gaze was so warm – it nearly burned his heart.

“Shall we drink to pretend love then?” he asked hopefully, and as she chuckled and shook her head, he was surprised once more.

“No…” she said briefly, smiling mysteriously. “Let’s just drink to love.”


	4. Chapter 4

The drive to the hotel took longer than expected, but wasn't dull to say the least. They drank their champagne, put their jackets to the side and cozily sat by each other's side as they asked each other personal questions. 

They were both curious about what had brought the other to London, and Moana told him she'd saved up for this trip for over six years. She had always wanted to see more of the world, but her father had been rather strict to her, forbidding her to travel so far when she had been younger, especially on her own. She had managed to get into an exchange student program that allowed her to finish her degree in social studies abroad, and had picked the UK for her final term. 

"Ah, so you've been in London since when, September?"

She shook her head.

"No, the studies were in Bristol. Interesting city. Funny how some people sound like stereotypical pirates. Bit gloomy when you compare it to home, but I suppose that almost everything is in this part of the world. The weather is so dull here."

He smiled, knowing all too well what that feeling was like. It was true that Hawaii was far more colorful than the UK. 

"I've only been in London for a few days," she continued. "How about you? How long have you been in London?"

"Been traveling the UK for the past three months or so," he replied. "Been in the capital for two weeks now. Not my first time here, by the way. I once came here ten years ago as well. But I didn't stay for very long then. It was summer and the city was loaded with tourists. I like it more in February, to be honest, even if I don't really enjoy the weather now."

Moana was quite fascinated by that.

"So you're a backpacker?"

Maui smiled and nodded, glad that she said it with reverence, not with disdain. 

"Something like it," he said proudly.

"For how long have you been doing that?" she wondered, still in awe, but even she saw how he was hesitant to reply now, and he cast his gaze down for a moment. 

Putting a number to it would have been even more awkward, and he just replied: "Basically forever... Since I was eighteen."

Moana's mouth dropped and she stared at him in mild shock. She had heard of people travelling around for a year or two, but never before had she heard of someone doing it for...

"Fifteen years?" she asked incredulously. "You've been travelling around the world for fifteen years?"

He gulped nervously and smiled at her, hoping that she didn’t think he was crazy. He usually wasn’t bothered by people’s opinions of him, but Moana’s was different. He had a desperate and unexplainable need for her approval.

“Don’t you ever go back home?” she wondered now, frowning as she didn’t understand. “Don’t your parents mind?”

“I eh…” Though it was hardly noticeable, he moved a little further away from her, leaning back in his seat while his hands were folded in his lap, and he didn’t look as relaxed as before. “I have no parents.”

She only realized how rude her question had been once he answered that.

With his parents gone, that probably meant that his home was gone too. No wonder that he had preferred to travel the world then.

“What… what happened precisely?” she asked softly, looking at him with nothing but compassion, and he felt like he needed to explain it to her. Maybe she would actually understand him – maybe she wouldn’t – but it would be better than building a relationship based on secrets and lies.

“I never knew my birth parents,” he admitted. “They abandoned me as a baby. I was found on a beach – minutes before the ocean probably would have washed me away.”

Moana had a look of horror on her face, and she covered her hand with her mouth, quite appalled to learn that. She already felt so bad that she wanted nothing more but to hug him now, but she also wanted to give him the chance to explain, and so she held back.

“I entered the system, was adopted about five times by the time I was seven… Wasn’t a very easy kid, I guess… Too much energy, too big, too loud… But then, I finally found good parents, whom I loved as much as they loved me.”

As he grew quiet again, Moana frowned.

“What happened?”

“My father – the adoptive one, I mean… died. When I was ten. My mother when I was sixteen.” He took a deep breath before he continued: “I ended up in the system for another two years again, was placed in an orphanage of sorts until I was eighteen, and then I just bailed on New Zealand. I went back a few times. I still have an aunt – the sister of my adoptive mother who died – who’s been very good to me. She’s my only family, in a way. I call her every few months and I’ve visited her a few times over the past decade, but I don’t really like staying around there for too long. I just get restless.”

Moana was very quiet, studying the way in which he told her that. There was an immeasurable sadness there, but also some quiet acceptance. Maybe when he was younger, he had been upset about what the world had tossed at him, but he seemed a little calmer about it now.

“Did you never want to live closer to her?”

Thinking about it for only a few moments, Maui shook his head. “Lovely as she is, she has her own family. Her own children to look after. I never felt comfortable being one of the kids she needed to look out for. Even as an adult, I still don’t. She worries a lot, and I don’t want to get too close and cause her any heartache. She deserves so much better. Losing her sister already hurt her badly, and her husband and I don’t really get along well.”

It was still a shocking revelation – and one she hadn’t expected – and she tried to turn the conversation into one that wasn’t as depressing to him.

“So… fifteen years of exploring the world… And not once have you wanted to settle down?”

“Oh… I have settled down,” he said softly, smiling. “But never for longer than nine months or so. I’d just save up on money, work hard to get some cash together, and then the moment I grew bored, I packed up and left and went to another place. I lived in Australia for a while – in Texas – in Germany – and also in Brazil. I also spent nearly a year on a ship, just as one of the crew – and did that a few times for shorter periods of time just to get around the world without having to pay for it.”

Moana eagerly asked him for more info on how he had done all that – how he had gone about that – and what kind of jobs he had had. It seemed like he had taken about every job he could have – and he wasn’t afraid of hard or difficult or illegal work.

He also told her about how travelling had become easier with the arrival of smartphones and websites that made it easy for him to find hosts and people that would allow him to stay with them for no money at all, as long as he helped out in the household a bit.

His sadness slowly seemed to disappear as he told her about the thousands of reviews he had received over the years, and how he was quite a legend on a few of those sites.

She honestly liked to hear him brag about that. It seemed like he was truly happy when he told her about all the people who had been impressed by his helpful and positive attitude, and how it brought him fun to help his hosts out of the drag of an otherwise boring workweek. It was also clear how he enjoyed being submerged into different cultures, and how he was proud that he wasn’t a very material guy, able to survive on very little.

“I don’t know if I could ever take that leap… To just travel the world without any idea on where to go, or where I’ll sleep…” She shrugged before she added: “I suppose it’s different when you’re a girl. The world is a little less safe for us in that regard.”

He was quiet for a moment, understanding fully well how privileged he was to be travelling as a guy. He had heard the same story from many women – hosts and fellow travelers alike – and one of the reasons why even women had no problem taking him in for a few nights, was because there were hundreds of good reviews by other women, and even despite those reviews, some women had expressed their concern that even a hundred good reviews weren’t always a guarantee for good behavior.

“Well… If you ever want to travel spontaneously… I’ll gladly travel along with you. Show you the ropes for a bit,” he offered graciously. “Also, I’m really strong and I can protect you and carry your bags.”

She chuckled, amused by that.

“That’s a lovely thing for you to offer… I might take you up on it… But let’s just wait and see if we can survive these three nights first, shall we?”

As he nodded, she smiled at him and looked out the window again. It seemed like even the highway now wasn’t as crowded as the ones around London, and she honestly had no idea where they were. As Maui looked out the window as well, he also didn’t have a clue.

Checking his cell phone, he whistled.

“We’ve been driving for nearly two hours already. Where on earth are we even headed?”

Moana leaned in a little closer to him and narrowed her eyes as she whispered: “Do you think it was all a hoax and the driver is going to kill us and then dump our bodies in the middle of nowhere?”

Maui grinned, quite amused by her dark humor before he leaned in as well and whispered: “Like I said before, I’ll protect you.”

It had gone dark a while earlier, and as they finally left the highway, they could not help but look outside, trying to see where they were going, but they were still pretty clueless about their whereabouts.

Maui’s stomach growled, and Moana chuckled in amusement as he pulled a lip.

“Poor Maui,” she teased him. “So hungry?”

“Don’t tease me or I’ll eat your portion as well.”

She laughed, then looked outside again, noticing that they were heading up a driveway.

As she saw what was at the end of the driveway, her mouth dropped.

“Oh my…”

Maui was leaning over her so he could look out the window too, and his mouth dropped even lower.

“Damn!” he said in reverence, staring at a massive castle, with many small turrets and banners waving in the wind, and in the darkness it was clear that many rooms were beautifully lit.

“It’s not medieval,” Moana remarked. “The stones aren’t big enough, and the glass looks pretty authentic.”

“Who cares if it’s medieval,” Maui muttered in appreciation. “This place looks awesome!”

She could only agree.

As the cab finally stopped, they put on their jackets again and got out of the cab as fast as they could, eagerly taking their bags – Maui once more lifting Moana’s – as they made their way up the stairs that led to the reception, taking in the sight of the area around them.

Save for this castle, the place seemed to be deserted and they could only see forests and hills and meadows in all directions.

They didn’t even make it to the door before one of the hotel staff came up to meet them, eagerly asking them if he could carry their bags.

If he was surprised at all by the shabby state of their backpacks, he didn’t show it, and once inside, it seemed like the reception knew fully well who they were.

“We are so honored to have you here,” a young lady at the desk said politely. “I will gladly show you to your room and explain more about our facilities to you.”

There wasn’t any waiting time at all as the women led them through the corridors and told them where they could find the swimming pool, the sauna, the gym, the restaurant and the bar. There was even a small library and a small cinema on the ground floor, and as she entered the elevator, they followed, as well as the younger staff member that was still carrying their bags. Maui could not help but feel bad for the lad, and wanted to offer to take back the bags, but he wasn’t sure if that was even allowed in a situation like this.

When the elevator opened up on the top floor again, he could not take it any longer, and he asked if he could carry his own bag again. The boy seemed surprised by that question, but allowed it – wanting to give the highest customer satisfaction, and Maui was quite relieved to be carrying his own bag again, so relieved, that he also asked to carry Moana’s, and now the boy felt rather foolish, having nothing to carry.

“If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to call the information desk. We will gladly see to all your needs. There is a table reserved for you at the restaurant as well. You can go whenever you like, our kitchen staff is always at your service.”

“We’ll be there shortly,” Moana decided, knowing that Maui was even hungrier than she was.

Maui was glad to hear it, and as the lady handed them a badge when they arrived at the door, they were eager to see what their room would be like.

They were once again told that they should not hesitate to contact the information desk, and were then bid a good evening before the young lady and the young men left again.

Looking at each other, they smiled, and when Moana opened the door, they carefully stepped inside the room.

The lights lit the moment they entered, and they saw that the room wasn’t even their bedroom – it was a lounge, with a desk, a table, a comfortable sofa, a television and three more doors.

One led to a toilet, another to a bathroom and another to the bedroom.

As Moana opened the door to the bathroom, she gasped.

“Ow my God!” she cried out softly as she turned on the light.

The bathroom was much bigger than she would have expected, and in the middle stood a large heart-shaped bath.

“What on earth?” Maui asked as he looked over her shoulder, not having expected such a bath at all. “Is this by any chance a honeymoon suite?”

As Moana looked around the lounge again, she figured that it was possible. The curtains and carpet were red, there were also heart-shaped pillows in the sofa, and as she headed to the bedroom and opened its door and turned on the light, she nodded.

“I have a feeling you’re right…”

As Maui looked over her shoulder again, he gulped. The bed was massive – with red sheets and rose petals all over it. The towels that were provided for them were folded in heart-shapes as well, and there were some chocolates and two single roses on the pillows.

They stood there a little awkwardly as they looked at the bed, and Moana could not deny that her cheeks were flushing at the thought of sleeping with him in _that_ particular bed.

Sure, the bed was big enough – which meant that even a guy of Maui’s size could sleep in it without a need for them to touch each other – but she wasn’t even sure if that was what she wanted. Part of her wanted to be forced to sleep close to him. Was that a wrong thing to think?

“Shall we get something to eat?” she decided to ask, distracting herself of all the other thoughts that wanted to flood her mind instead.

“Yeah, great!” Maui agreed, putting down their bags on a table.

Moana took her pile of towels from the bed. “Going to freshen up a little. Will be back in a minute.”

As she left the room, Maui realized that, by taking her towels, she had already picked her side of the bed, and he chuckled to himself as he walked over to his side and sat down, feeling the soft silky sheets between his fingers.

It was so luxurious – and the room was so incredibly big – he felt unworthy. There was a television in the bedroom as well, and as he spotted a remote control, he saw that there were also settings for the light and for music.

He played around with it, looking for a romantic setting, and as the room was illuminated red, he started looking for nice music. Some classical music was playing by the time Moana entered again, and she seemed to be very amused by what he had done to the lighting.

“Do you need the bathroom?” she offered, and he nodded as he took his own pile of towels and left the room, handing her the remote while he muttered in mock-annoyance: “I was looking for the Polynesian music channel. Couldn’t find it. We should file a complaint.”

She chuckled, and he winked at her before he left the room, leaving her feeling rather light on her feet.

Now she was the one to sit down on her side of the bed, laying down for a moment as she relaxed in the sheets. She was going to sleep like a baby, she was sure of it, and as she played around with the music, she tried to find something fun to listen to. It appeared that one channel was playing nothing but slows, and it just so happened that Maui walked right in when she had tuned into that one.

“Wonderful,” he said teasingly. “Didn’t know you were into cheesy music.”

She chuckled. “One of my many amazing characteristics,” she teased him back, getting up from the bed and turning off the music and the lights, and they headed out of their room to head to the restaurant instead.

Once they stood in the hallway, Maui suddenly offered her his arm, and she looked at him in surprise.

“Well,” he said slyly. “You are my girlfriend, are you not?”

She smiled as she took his arm, and allowed him to lead her all the way down to the restaurant.

As a waiter led them to their table, it was Maui who pulled back her seat, and she felt quite spoiled as he sat down opposite her, his beautiful dark eyes gazing happily into hers, and she felt her heart jump once more.

There was nothing about him that she didn’t like – even if she did worry a bit about the hurts he had suffered in his childhood. Even those hurts were easily forgotten when she gazed into his happy eyes.

After they had ordered their food and the menu had been taken from them again, she found herself looking at his big hands as they rested on the table, and she suddenly put hers on his, gently resting her fingers on top of his knuckles.

He seemed to be quite surprised by that gesture and lifted an eyebrow in a questioning way, and she smiled warmly at him.

“I just want to say… I’m really happy I met you, Maui, and even happier that I’m spending this holiday with you.”

Upon seeing his grateful smile and shy blush, she squeezed his hands a little, and he turned them over so their palms were now touching, and he closed his big hands around her small ones.

The sensation of his skin against her was addicting, to say the least, and she knew that she was falling in love at an alarming rate.

“Moana, I can’t even express how happy I am to have met you. I could not imagine anyone in this world I’d rather be here with.”

That was high praise from someone who knew as many people as he did, and they spent a great deal of time just holding hands and looking at each other, allowing these strange but lovely feelings within to grow into a warm affection for one another.

The idea that their Valentine’s Day would be filled with love was becoming likelier by the second.


	5. Chapter 5

The food was delicious – and the dessert even more so. While Moana had a chocolate mousse with whipped cream, Maui was having a dame blanche, and Moana looked with wide eyes as his dessert was served, finding it to look quite delicious.

There were three scoops of vanilla ice cream, with hot chocolate sauce on top, decorated with chocolate sprinkles, and served with a scoop of whipped cream and two very thin biscuits. It looked amazing, and the melted chocolate smelled even better.

Maui licked his lips, and Moana bit hers as she realized that perhaps she hadn’t picked the best dessert in the house. She was making a mental note to order his the next day.

“What did they call that?” she wondered curiously. “A damn blanche?”

“ _Dame_ ,” Maui corrected her, his tone elegant. “It’s French.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“And you speak French?”

“A _petit peu_!” he replied with a wide smile. “My German’s better, but less impressive, I suppose. _Kartoffelsalat mit schnitzel_ doesn’t sound quite as elegant as _dame blanche_ , does it?”

Moana was frowning even more now. “What on earth is that? Is that what the Germans call this dessert?”

Maui laughed. “No, no, I am not entirely sure now but I think they call dame blanche the same. Kartoffelsalat is potato salad – and schnitzel is a sort of meat – pork, usually, which they smash with a hammer or something. And then they put it in breadcrumbs before they bake it. I quite like it. Haven’t had it in years though. No one makes schnitzel like the Germans do.”

She was smiling as she listened to him. She didn’t know that much about continental European food, but if she had the time or money, she’d love to travel more and taste and experience those things for herself. For now, however, she was watching as Maui started eating his biscuits, dipping them in the ice cream with much gusto, and for a moment she seemed to have forgotten about her chocolate mousse.

Maui noticed how she was distracted, and as he noticed that her dessert was untouched, and how her eyes were glued to his dessert instead, he suddenly hesitated, and she did not even realize what he was doing until he suddenly pulled her glass bowl closer and scooped some of his ice cream into her bowl, and some of her chocolate mousse into his.

“There,” he said proudly as he offered her bowl back to her. “You should try this.”

She was over the moon by his generosity, and really enjoyed the vanilla ice cream, feeling like a little kid as she allowed herself to indulge in such a simple pleasure as eating amazing ice cream, and the combination with the chocolate mousse was even better than she could have anticipated.

When they were done, they looked around the large restaurant. There were a few people seated here and there, but there was a lot of room in-between, and so they had all the privacy they could possibly wish for. Moana kept on asking questions about his travels, and she truly felt like he couldn’t possibly ever bore her. He was full of amazing stories, and though he had a tendency to brag, she thought it was charming – and not as annoying as she would have expected. She literally hung by his every word, and it seemed like it was many hours later that they finally left the restaurant, being the only two still there.

On their way to their room, they dropped by the gym, just to check it out, and they were impressed by the size of it, and by the library, in awe of how old yet well-preserved that room looked, and they were quite slow as they made their way back, admiring the golden patterns on the ceilings and the beautiful chandeliers that hung by the staircases.

The place seemed like it was the perfect setting for a fairy tale. Perhaps not for a Polynesian one – but neither of them were complaining.

Once back in their room, it was already past eleven, and while Moana took a quick shower, Maui unpacked his clothes and read more information about the hotel and its facilities, trying to come up with a plan on what to do the next day.

He already knew that he wanted to go to the gym, but as he figured that he’d rather sweat and work out without Moana there, he knew that he had to come up with some fun things to do with Moana as well. There was the ball in the evening, and it could be fun to go for a walk in the afternoon. There were also wellness facilities present, and there were possibilities to go for massages and get facial masks and all those sorts of things. Though Maui would rather work out than get pampered, he hoped that Moana would find it interesting, so that she wouldn’t feel too abandoned while he worked out.

When she returned to the bedroom, she was wearing purple pajamas, and her hair was up in a bun as she put her clothes away in the closet.

He could not help but look at her, the way the loose pants actually accentuated her hips, and the sight of her curves made his mouth go a little dry. She was simply too beautiful – and the thought of her sleeping in the same bed as him was a tough one.

He didn’t even say much to her as he retreated into the bathroom himself, and instead of taking a cold shower and hoping all his indecent thoughts would disappear on their own, he did the opposite. He allowed himself to indulge in those little fantasies in his mind. For now, he let himself dream of stripping her off those pajamas and touching her wherever he wanted before she spoiled him in ways he hadn’t been spoiled in in ages, and as he led himself to his release, it hardly took any time at all before he was coming then and there, biting his lip as he tried not to moan. When it was all over, he took a deep breath as he let the hot water wash him clean again.

He felt a little guilty, thinking of her like that, but at the same time he knew that it would be easier to deal with her when the edge was off for a while.

Yet at the same time, a little voice in the back of his head was convincing him that if she wanted to take it further that night, he’d probably have no trouble at all to get it all up again for her. It hardly took any convincing at all, in fact, he knew that little voice was right.

By the time he returned to the bedroom, he was wearing green pajamas – long-sleeved and very decent, though perhaps a little bit too warm. He usually slept in his shorts, but he wanted to be decent for her. Sleeping next to a half-naked stranger could not be nice for any girl, he figured.

She seemed amused as she looked at his bun from her spot on the bed, and he noticed it.

It appeared like she had kept herself entertained by collecting all the flower petals, and she had begun making a small lei by using a needle and thread from the free sample sewing kit that she had found among the extras in the bathroom.

Realizing that it had been ages since he had seen an actual lei, he smiled at her. She reminded him so much of what he had once thought of as home.

Even if Hawaii hadn’t been his home, he hadn’t felt so foreign there as compared to Europe or the States. He had received many leis from his hosts on the islands, and as he sat down on the bed, he smiled as he looked at her handiwork.

“Do you have enough petals?” he asked softly, and she shrugged.

“Not for much more than a simple bracelet, I suppose. But it’s fine. I’ve missed this – making my own leis,” she admitted in a wistful tone. “I’ve done very few things that reminded me of home after I arrived here. I thought adapting to a foreign culture would be enough to keep my soul satisfied, but it’s strange… I miss my home so much more than I ever thought I would.”

He understood her sentiment, and remained quiet as he watched how she continued pulling the last petals over the needle and thread.

When she was done, she wanted to put on the lei to see how it fit, and he moved a little closer as he offered to bind the ends of the thin thread together. She held perfectly still as he finished tying her new bracelet, and he could not help but look at her bare forearm, his gaze following her sleeves and bare neck, before his gaze was focused on nothing but her lips.

Forbidding himself to focus on that, he moved back again, getting up from the bed before he crawled under the sheets, and she followed his example and did the same.

She used the remote to play with the lights in the room, changing the bright yellow light to orange and then red, and as she looked at him in that hue, she felt like it would be a bad idea to keep the light that color for a long while. She would probably jump him at some point, for she still wanted to spend time in his arms.

“Got a favorite color?” she asked him.

“Let’s just pick a relaxing one for now,” he decided, and eventually they both decided on purple, and they turned the light down quite a bit, so their eyes could already rest as they looked at one another.

“I had a great time today,” Moana told him a little shyly.

“Me too,” he replied honestly. “Though I have a feeling tomorrow will be more fun. There’s the ball in the evening.”

“I’m looking forward to that,” she said with a warm smile, and he felt so lucky that she actually seemed to like him. There wasn’t anything fake about her, and part of him wanted to inch closer to her and just hold her, yet he kept to himself.

Her hand was resting between them, and he looked at her small lei with a smile, moving his own hand closer to hers, until it was resting next to hers, but not quite touching it.

She followed his movements with her eyes, and was surprised that he would not take her hand. She moved her index fingers slightly – just enough to touch his, and he smiled at her because of it.

“Sleep well, Maui,” she said sweetly.

“Sleep well, Moana…”

As she closed her eyes, her finger was still touching his, and as he closed his eyes as well, he did not pull away from her touch. Tomorrow would be great, he just knew it.


	6. Chapter 6

She woke very slowly. She was only aware of a few things at the same time: she had not slept this well since she had travelled away from home – and her hand was touching someone else’s. Opening her eyes a little, she turned her head to the side, seeing how her entire hand rested in Maui’s, even though he was still sleeping.

As he was on his stomach, his hair covered half of his face, and Moana had seldom seen something so pure.

She had slept with a few boys in her life. Some of them hadn’t even spent the night – others had. Sometimes she had had a crush and she had held them up to an incredibly high standard: like they were truly not in it for the sex, just for her company, and she had told herself that they would continue to support her no matter what.

Yet those relationships had not lasted for more than a few months and had been rather superficial and self-centered, perhaps even on her behalf. She had fallen in love with what she had thought those boys had been – instead of what they actually were.

But Maui, he had already opened up to her in many ways. He was an open person, even if she could imagine he did not open up about his youth to everyone. At least he had to her – and she hoped that knowing his past would make her understand him better. She wanted to know him more than anyone.

When it came to Maui, she had this selfless need within herself to see him happy – no matter what. And watching him sleep made her heart beat faster with joy. The last thing that she wanted, was to wake him, and so she closed her eyes again, not pulling her hand from his, and as she focused on the rhythm of his gentle breathing, it took her no time whatsoever to fall asleep again.

Next time she woke, she didn’t know how much time had passed, and as she opened her eyes and looked at Maui, she saw that he was looking at her too, a small smile on his face as he had now rolled onto his side.

He truly was of a gigantic size, she thought to herself, for it felt like he was the only thing that blocked out the outside light that shone behind him.

“Good morning,” he said softly, his voice still deep with sleep, and she rubbed her face for a moment, wiping some hair out of her face.

“Hey Maui,” she replied sweetly, her body warm and comfortable and aching for things that she did not dare to ask of him.

She licked her lips as she considered how welcome it would be if he were to kiss her then and there, but she kept her distance, only keeping her hand in his, and she softly moved her fingers over his, so softly that even he got distracted by it for a moment, his mouth a little open as he looked at her, taking a deep breath in order not to let it go to his head.

“Do we need to get up yet?” she asked softly, and he shook his head.

“It’s not that late, actually,” he told her. “Eight five. And we can have breakfast until ten.”

That was more than enough time, and she relaxed in the pillows, sighing contentedly.

“I slept very well,” she admitted. “You?”

“Yes, me too,” he assured her. “You were so quiet… I had almost forgotten you were here.”

She chuckled, then turned her head to look at him again. Even first thing in the morning, he looked gorgeous. His night shirt looked a little too tight around his arms, and as she looked at them, she could not help but want to spend time in those.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said softly, her gaze perhaps a little more flirty than she had intended it, and she could see how his eyes widened for a moment – as though this was the moment where he decided whether he had to stay or flee from her.

Gulping heavily, he replied slowly: “You too, Moana… Happy Valentine’s Day…”

Perhaps it was her selfishness – or perhaps it was too early in the morning for her to think clearly – but she moved closer to him and offered him a hug – or rather: she put her arm around his waist and rested her head against his chest – and there was very little he could do about it.

He didn’t feel attacked though, even if it was a little surprising, and he lowered his head on top of hers, to inhale the scent of her hair, and he rested his hand on the small of her back.

Just the fact that she was in this close proximity to him was enough to make her love-drunk, and she hid her face in his shirt, finding him so attractive that she would not be surprised if they ended up making love before the day was over. Every ounce of her body wanted him already, and she did not know who was going to stop her from pursuing her feelings.

He, however, did not feel as comfortable about that idea just yet. Sure, he wanted her just as badly – but it was eight ten – and he needed to survive with her for three days. If she didn’t like what she saw, he’d have to endure three days of rejection and humiliation. He could do without.

Tightening his embrace, he pressed a sweet kiss on top of her head, before he suddenly let go of her and rolled out of the bed.

“I’ll get ready first if you don’t mind,” he said. “That way you can chill a little while longer.”

Though she was a little disappointed, she did not show it. Instead she lay in bed while she heard him head into the shower again.

“Gods, I want him,” she muttered, finding it easier to admit to herself now that she had said it out loud. “You have to control yourself. He seems like a sweet guy, and you just wanna rip his clothes off. It would probably startle him. Bad Moana. Bad idea.”

 

 

Over an hour later, they were finished with their breakfast. Moana had been quite surprised to see Maui eat six eggs – but she figured that his muscles didn’t just come out of thin air. She had eaten less – but also a bit slower – and so they had been done at about the same time.

They made plans for the rest of the day. In the morning, they’d have some solo-time off. It had been Maui’s idea, and Moana hadn’t taken offense to it. (In fact, she had welcomed the idea. She was still too focused on ravaging him, and that was a bad attitude to start the day with. Time off could be good for her.)

They agreed they’d have lunch at 2, go for a walk in the afternoon, have dinner at 7, and then get ready for the ball, which began at 9. All in all, it sounded like it would be a great day.

Moana made her way to the wing of the castle where they had the swimming pool, sauna and other spa facilities. A lady at the desk told her all the things she could get that morning – a massage, facial mask, a manicure, a pedicure, even a wax. Not wanting to seem hesitant, she agreed to all those things, hoping that she’d be done on time.

In a span of three hours, several women were in charge of pampering her and the other women at the spa, and it appeared like people from all across the county came to this place for things like this – and Moana just sat and relaxed as she was given massages and manicures and pedicures. The one thing that wasn’t as relaxing though – was the wax, and she breathed a sigh of relief when it was all done and they put some aloe vera on her sensitive skin.

At least now she’d have nothing to worry about if anything were to happen with Maui the next days.

It was one ‘o clock by the time she went back to the hotel room, and as she opened the door, she saw from the gap under the door that the light in the bathroom was on. Though it was quiet, she assumed that he had returned from his fitness and was taking a shower. She headed into the bedroom to look for walking shoes for that afternoon, but froze when she saw a half-naked man standing in front of the bed, rummaging through his suitcase.

He was wearing nothing but a white towel around his waist, though Moana didn’t realize that straight away. His tattoos had not been recognized as such yet. For a brief moment, she had thought he was wearing clothes, but now she realized that his entire body was covered in patterns and drawings.

The amount of tattoos was impressive, but the muscles… Even more so!

He was glistening – not with sweat, he had just gotten out of the shower – but apparently he hadn’t dried himself properly, and Moana felt her mouth go dry as she studied his back, focusing on his broad shoulders and even wider upper arms.

When he found a sweater that he wanted to wear with his jeans, he grabbed them both and turned around, freezing when he saw Moana standing in the doorframe, her mouth open as she looked at him – almost as though she had never seen a man before.

Her eyes travelled over everything – over his arms, his legs, his chest, his stomach, even over the white towel, which he quickly grabbed by the knot before it could fall down. His chest heaved as he hoped she didn’t dislike what she saw, for she looked utterly shocked and speechless for a few moments.

Maybe he would have rushed into the bathroom as soon as he could have, but she was literally blocking his exit, and so he could only stand there, his brain numb as he couldn’t come up with anything to say.

For a few moments, Moana even felt like she would faint. She wasn’t even sure why. Was she really that impressed by him? Was she a little weak in the knees from that painful wax? Or was she simply forgetting how to breathe?

Reminding herself that she needed air, she suddenly took a deep breath and averted her eyes.

“Sorry, I… I didn’t know you were in here,” she said as she rushed to her own backpack, opening the zipper, even if she had completely forgotten what she had wanted to get.

“No worries,” he said quickly, trying to make the mood a little lighter as he joked: “Glad you didn’t faint!”

She laughed weakly, realizing that she almost had, and as she turned her head to look at him again, licking her lip for just a moment, she replied: “Can’t blame a girl for fainting at the sight of you…”

He gulped, not entirely sure if she was trying to give him a compliment, and upon noticing his hesitation, she was quick to elaborate.

“Gorgeous tattoos. Gorgeous muscles. Just… just gorgeous,” she said confidently, though she didn’t dare to look at him once she was done saying it, and she turned to her backpack again.

He gulped heavily, his own desire for her only growing again. If she was into him, then what was stopping him from…

 _Common decency_ , he reminded himself. He wanted to do this right. He didn’t want her to be just a quick shag on a holiday – someone whose name he would forget in a few years because the memory had been drowned out by so many others. He didn’t want her to feel like she was just that to him – just physical. She was more.

“Thank you,” he said softly, and he rushed out of the bedroom again, cursing himself for not picking his clothes before he had gone into the shower. He should have known that this could have happened.

By the time he returned, Moana had changed into some tight jeans and a loose, red sweater, and she had her hair up in a ponytail for now.

As she looked at him in his dark jeans and green sweater, it appeared like her eyes approved of everything she saw, and he had seldom felt so nervous in the company of a woman.

“Shall we head down for lunch?” she asked casually, and he was eager to accept.

On their way there, he asked her about how her morning at the spa had been, and she eagerly told him all about it – though she left the bits about the waxing out of it, not wanting him to get any ideas, even if she was completely already having ideas herself.

His company at lunch was amazing – and during their afternoon walk, it was even better. They talked about nature and the most beautiful things they had ever seen, and Maui certainly had a lot of stories to tell in that regard. Once more she hung by his every word, and by the time they returned to the hotel, she didn’t feel like she had just seen a bit more of England, she truly felt like she had seen more of the entire world.

They went for dinner, though skipped the dessert, agreeing that perhaps it would be better to get the dessert later in the evening, when they needed a little snack during all the dancing. Moana still wanted to order the same dame blanche he had had the day before.

Maui found her the best company he had had in ages. Though young and partly naïve, another part of her was wise and she was so intelligent that he sometimes felt like he was inferior. She had never been to the places he had been, yet she could talk about any subject he breached, like it was effortless for her to empathize and know what life was like on the other side of the world. She brought up topics that he would not have guessed she’d know about, and her compassion towards others was truly awe-inspiring. It was hard not to love her.

While Moana prepared for the ball in the bathroom, Maui changed into his new clothes in the bedroom. As was promised, the clothes had arrived at the hotel that morning, and sometime during their walk, they had been hung up in his closet.

When he was done putting on his newest clothes, he moved about a bit, dancing a little to see if the clothes moved naturally – since one of his greatest fears would be for his clothes to rip while he was busting out some killer dance moves. So far, everything fit perfectly.

He could hear Moana humming in the bathroom while the tap went on and off, and as he got an idea, he left their room and headed to the reception. He had already seen the decorations in the entrance hall – there were heart-shaped balloons at the entrance and vases with beautiful roses on the counter – and he made a quick bargain with one of the men at the reception to steal one of those roses.

They were amused, and some of their female colleagues were quite charmed by the simple yet romantic gesture, and Maui felt proud of himself as he returned to their room.

As he opened the door, he wondered if she was still in the bathroom, but instead, she walked out of the bedroom at the sound of the door closing again.

She looked a little worried, almost as though she had feared he would run off without her, but that worry disappeared the moment she saw him in his black pants, gray waistcoat and white shirt. He looked so handsome – like something from a dream – and she was staring while he walked closer, holding the rose in his hand.

He didn’t offer it straight away, instead admiring her. She was wearing a red dress – a rather tight one that left little to his imagination. She was wearing black heels underneath – though they luckily weren’t too high and it appeared like she had no trouble walking on them, so dancing shouldn’t be a problem either – and her hair was partly up, revealing more of her elegant neck than he had realized he wanted to see.

Closing his mouth as he realized he was staring, he offered her the rose, and she accepted it with a gentle smile.

She held it in both of her hands for a moment, lifting it so she could smell it, and as she smiled approvingly, she glanced up at him again.

As he got an idea, he took the rose from her hand, and as she followed his movements with her eyes, she saw how he was snapping off the stem, and he placed the rose behind her ear, smiling gently at her as he admired her beauty. She was feeling weak in the knees, and she had never felt for anyone what she felt for Maui in that moment.

As easy as it had been to talk to her before, words were failing him now. All he knew, was that he loved her and all her beauty and kindness, and he knew that professing his love right now wasn’t the proper thing to say, even if it was the truth.

She surprised him by reaching up to his cheek, and he felt a little numb as her touch guided him closer to her own face. When she pressed her lips against his, he closed his eyes and bent through his knees a little, not understanding what he had done to deserve a kiss from her, but knowing better than to question it.

She tasted so lovely – it was hard not to be hungry for more, and as he wrapped his hands around her waist and pressed her closer to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, moaning softly against his hot mouth.

Honestly, he had not heard such a sound in a long time, and as he startled, he pulled back from her, carefully letting go of her.

She had her eyes cast down, realizing that perhaps she had allowed herself to enjoy that a little _too_ much, and she could not hide her blush.

“I just… I just wanted to thank you,” she explained weakly, not even knowing what she was saying. It wasn’t that at all – it was different. She wanted him in every conceivable way – and that kiss had been so much more than a ‘thank you’, but she wasn’t ready to admit that yet.

As the numb haze left his mind again, he bit his bottom lip, trying to think of something to say.

“You’re welcome…”

He honestly didn’t know for what she was thanking him, but he was at a loss for words in regards to this – to them. All he wanted to do, was to kiss her once more, but he feared that if he indulged again, they would never leave their room, or he would make a fool out of himself.

No, she deserved better, and he needed to do right by her. He needed to show her he could be a man worthy of her love, even if that was hard when she was looking so good and he was in the mood for so much more than just dancing.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened his back again, and with a brave smile, he offered her his arm.

“My lady,” he said sweetly. “Will you accompany me to the ball?”

She was still blushing as she linked her arm with his – still being swept of her feet – still feeling her heart beat at a thousand miles an hour – still hazed in her mind – and still falling deeper in love with him every second… and though part of her did not even want to leave the room anymore after having had a taste of his lips, she figured it was the right thing to do.

As he guided her out of the room, she repeated an old and dull phrase in her mind, like a mantra, just to forget about how much she wanted to skip the ball and just go to bed with him: _good things come to those who wait._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [othersketches](https://othersketches.tumblr.com/post/157370311165/sharp-dressed-maui-prompted-by-chapter-2-of) \- look her up on Tumblr - drew me a gorgeous Maui! She based it on the description of the Harrods scene, I took the rose and ran with it in this chapter. ;-)  
>  Please leave her a kind message on Tumblr if you enjoy her art!
> 
>  


	7. Chapter 7

No old castle was complete without a ballroom, and this particular room was more breathtaking than any of the others Moana had seen so far. There were stained glass windows in a gothic style on three sides of the spacious and round room, and the ceiling was so high that she almost felt like she was in a church.

The room was comfortably warm though – the perfect temperature for dancing – and as Maui led her inside while she had her hand on his arm, she was charmed by the sight of the couples on the dance floor.

The dresses were beautiful and expensive – and though she knew hers wasn’t as stylish as several of the richer folks around, the way that Maui looked at her did make her feel like a princess.

As people were waltzing, she realized that she had no idea how to dance like that, and she gulped nervously when Maui asked her to dance.

“I don’t know how to waltz,” she apologized, though she was intrigued. “You do?”

Maui grinned. “Of course! Can’t spend as much time couchsurfing as I have without picking up all sorts of dances around the world! Learned to waltz in Germany – maybe not the type of style dancing-waltz that they do here, but more folky. It’s quite fun!”

“I believe you!” she said, regretting now that she had no idea how to dance to such a song, and she was relieved when the song ended a few seconds later and an upbeat song began to play. “Shall we go dance?” she suggested, and she was surprised by Maui’s eagerness.

It wasn’t hard to understand why. The moment he stepped on the dance floor, Maui transformed into some sort of dance animal. Of all the men Moana saw around her, none was as great a dancer as Maui was. He was strong, elegant and had a great sense of rhythm. British people didn’t really compare – and the stereotypes about the men being stiff in their dancing were quite true. The few that didn’t fit the stereotype had ridiculous moves instead, and Moana was quite amused by them sometimes. Instead of wooing those women with their moves, they were wooing them with their humor, and it seemed to work alright for them.

But even if she got distracted by the other men sometimes, it was hard for her to take her eyes off Maui. Every one of his moves was hypnotizing, and when the wilder songs were changed in for a slow, they were both a little sweaty and quite warm as he placed one hand on her hip and took her other with his, holding their linked hands between their bodies.

His gaze was so gentle, and Moana could not look away, staring a great deal longer in his eyes than she thought she had ever looked into anyone’s. He didn’t look away, and neither did she, feeling the best type of nerves swirl in her stomach. She quite liked that dizzy feeling within, and she liked being so close to him even more. With her arm resting against his, she felt rather tiny – even though she knew she wasn’t, not even compared to him. It was just that he was so wide and muscular, it was like her arm was a third of his, if even that. That thought only fed the butterflies in her stomach.

When the dance came to an end, Maui leaned in, but he did not kiss her. He just leaned his forehead against hers, and she closed her eyes, breathing in his breath before she let out a soft, longing sigh.

With her eyes closed, it was hard not to consider leaving this party behind to go back to their room – but she feared that Maui didn’t feel alike – it would be silly to assume he did. After all: he seemed to love dancing too much.

In fact, when they broke their honi, he tied his hair together in a knot and rolled up his sleeves as though he was only just getting started, and she smiled at him in amusement.

The DJ alternated golden oldies with energetic dance tracks and heart wrenching slows, and Maui knew how to dance to all of them, often encouraging Moana to follow his lead whenever she didn’t really know what to do.

During some slows, they would just smile at each other, feeling like they were dancing on cloud nine. During other slows she was a little shier, averting her eyes as she realized how badly she was blushing because of him.

He enjoyed her company regardless.

She was good at imitating his moves, and he was pleasantly surprised by how fast she picked up on all those dances. When another waltz began to play, instead of standing to the side, he offered to try and teach her instead – at first just swaying to the music before he began to demonstrate the way he put down his feet.

“See? Flat – tip – flat, then again flat – tip – flat. The waltz is basically that, a hundred times over, while you let yourself be led around the ballroom. Let’s just stand still and practice – and try not to get in the way of the other couples. The safest place to be during a waltz is the middle of the dance floor – the outside is taken by the fastest dancers and they will run you over if you’re not careful.”

Moana was focusing very hard on her footwork, looking at the floor between them as they were both just practicing in place, and by the end of the song, she already seemed to grasp the basics.

“Next waltz, I’m going to teach you how to move!” he promised her eagerly, and she grinned as she heard the upbeat tempo of the next song, and as she began dancing to it, she winked at him as she said: “I already know how to move!”

He wasn’t going to argue with that. She was quite seductive when she danced, and the last thing he wanted was to back away from that.

Perhaps they danced a little closer than was actually necessary – and perhaps he didn’t need to put his hands on her hips as she moved them about, and she certainly didn’t need to lean against him – but still she did. Sometimes he didn’t know if it was truly getting hot in the room – or if it was all her doing.

They went for a drink at the bar, then immediately headed back to the dance floor, and the next waltz, he tried to move her about, though it still went slowly, and it was difficult for her not to get distracted by him while he was joking and smiling so seductively at her.

When the waltz was over, Moana didn’t feel like she had done such a good job, but still he praised her, and she was grateful for it. As she pressed a kiss to his cheek in exchange for him being so patient with her, he turned his head a little, and the corners of their lips brushed against one another briefly, leaving Moana’s heart beating faster as she felt the urge to just lock lips completely.

But with so many people around, that was something she wasn’t sure she wanted to do – and she was glad that the next song was just a regular slow, for it meant that she didn’t have to step away from Maui just yet. He wrapped his arms around her and let his forehead rest against her, bending over slightly as he did so. Their lips were inches apart for the longest while, and as neither of them pulled away, they only grew more certain that their feelings were mutual.

“Shall we return to our room?” Moana suddenly asked towards the end of the song, not pulling away from him while she asked this question, hoping that he didn’t see her fierce blush. She hadn’t quite wanted to word it that way, but she hoped that the gist was clear by now.

“Yeah,” he replied immediately – perhaps too eagerly, and as he saw her chest rise and fall in excitement, he felt his mouth go dry.

He didn’t even know why she wanted to go back to their room – but he hoped that it wasn’t for sleeping.

As she took his hand and led him away from the crowd, he could not help but look at her back, admiring everything about her, and already getting a little excited at the thought of what might happen next.

Once they made it to the elevator, it became pretty clear what had been on their minds. Moana was the one that took charge as she put her arms around him and kissed him eagerly, and he could not stop himself from moaning into her mouth and pulling her close to him.

Once they were on their floor, the elevator door opened, then closed again with them inside it, and at this Moana startled and she quickly jammed her hand against the “open” button again, pulling him out as she rushed to their room, and he was quick to follow.

Once inside, he was the one to kiss her, putting his hands on the side of her head as he pulled her close, and she put her hands around his neck again, kissing him with more passion than he had ever experienced before.

She had spirit and fire within, and almost seemed shameless in the way she started placing kisses in his neck and against his earlobe, which caused him to shudder in delight. He was glad his hair was still up in a bun and not in the way of her lips on his skin.

“Moana,” he whispered desperately – just wanting nothing more but for her to continue. He let his hands roam over her curves, and once again she was first as she undid the buttons of his waistcoat and encouraged him to shrug it off, then made her way through the buttons of his white shirt.

A little aware that he was sweaty from all the dancing, he wasn’t sure if he should bring her attention to that or not and ask for a shower, but it seemed like his scent only excited her more. Even that was something he considered strange, but he could not deny that he quite liked her scent as well – like it encouraged him to be more straight-forward and less ashamed.

While she opened up his shirt and let her hands roam his broad chest, he undid the zipper at the back of her dress, his hands now travelling over the bare skin there, and she immediately sought out his lips in response.

He had never been with a woman so brave and passionate before, and he could not help but want to hold her close, knowing fully well that she could probably feel how hard he was for her by now. She didn’t seem to mind at all, in fact, she seemed to grind against him the moment she felt it, and he let out a deep breath in approval.

His panting was sexier than anything she could have imagined, and she found herself shrugging off the rest of her dress, stepping out of it and kicking off her shoes before she carefully hung the dress over one of the chairs.

In those few seconds that she had stepped away from him, he just stared at her in admiration and affection and lust. She was wearing red underwear – brand new, from the looks of it – and her skin seemed so smooth – it was difficult not to pull her close again when she returned to him for more kissing.

They weren’t even in the bedroom yet – but for now, that wasn’t even his priority.

As his hands travelled over her naked back, trailing between the fabric of her underpants and bra, she made a move to unbutton him completely, meeting his erection through the thick black fabric of his pants.

He gasped lightly, knowing that even that little indirect touch had left him just a little wetter for her.

As she shrugged off his trousers and bent through her knees in order to help him out of them, he could not help but feel his stomach tighten at the sight of her sitting before him like that. He gulped heavily as he considered some other things she could do in that position, and once more he knew that he was getting wetter.

This would be over too soon if he didn’t slow down – and as he stepped out of his pants, he was the one to take them off the floor and put them over another chair as well, shrugging off the rest of his shirt too.

Now Moana was the one staring at his tattoos again, and though she wanted to study them and ask him about each little tattoo that he had, at this moment, her body was hungry for other things. Questions about his tattoos would need to wait until she was completely satisfied.

As she pressed plenty of her bare skin against his, he suddenly lifted her up against him, and as they kissed, she was only lightly aware of how he was carrying her into the bedroom.

He was about to lay her down on the bed when she suddenly broke their kiss and asked: “Do you have a condom with you?”

His eyes widened as he looked at her. It wasn’t that he didn’t have a condom, it was that he still couldn’t believe what was happening, and if he hadn’t used his restraint in that moment, he would have shouted “CHEEHOO!” at this victory.

Taming his wildly beating heart, he nodded eagerly. “Of course!”

He put her down on the bed – perhaps again too eagerly – and rushed off towards the bathroom.

When he returned, he looked happier than ever as he held the box of condoms in both of his hands, like it was the most delicate thing in the world, and Moana grinned at him.

She was laying on the bed, one arm propped up against her head while her other hand rested seductively on her hip, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. She had closed the curtains and only one nightlight was on, a red hue illuminating her like she was a goddess.

To him, she was the most beautiful woman on the planet, and the way she was comfortable showing herself to him made him feel rather self-conscious, and he hoped he wasn’t disappointing to her as he put the box of condoms on the night table, then crawled on the bed to lay beside her, looking into her eyes with a small smile before he propped one arm underneath his head like she had, then brought his other hand to her fingers as they were resting on her hip.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, admiring the sight of her body, and she smiled confidently at him.

“You are unlike anyone I’ve ever seen,” she admitted, and realizing that that could be taken as either a compliment or an insult, she added: “I think you’re handsome. And exciting. It is taking every ounce of my self-control not to jump you, honestly.”

Though she smiled, it wasn’t a complete joke. She was actually dead-serious.

To see him blush so fiercely, however, did slow her down. Lust was a strong instinct in her, but so was compassion, and she didn’t want to startle him.

Taking his hand, she slowly guided it along her own hips and waist, and he meekly looked at her, his breathing slow as he tried to control his own urges to ravage her. He needed to be good to her. If he was ever going to have a shot at more than just a fling, then what he did this night was going to be crucial to the success of their relationship.

He needed to be the best lover he could be.

As he leaned in closer to her, he gently kissed her lips, and before she could wrap her arms around him, he gently pushed her back onto the bed before he swung one leg over her, quite literally trapping her between his legs, even if he did not rest any of his weight on her. He was just hovering over her, smiling gently before he leaned down again to kiss her, and he was surprised by how eagerly she put her arms around his neck again, and just a minute later, she was already bucking her hips against his.

He broke their kiss with a small moan, realizing that he was not going to be able to master any self-control if he let her continue with her bucking, and instead he slowly made his way down her body, kissing her neck and collarbone and the top of her breasts. As he fumbled with her bra behind her back and managed to undo it, he pulled himself up again as he carefully helped her out of it, and now she was the one looking a little shy as he looked at her breasts.

“Perfect,” he said softly in approval before he leaned down again to place kisses on each inch of them, gently rubbing her nipples between his fingertips, something which once more caused her to buck into him when he took too long.

Travelling further down her belly, he continued placing his kisses on her skin until he reached the final strip of fabric she was wearing. He sat up again as he pulled her legs out from underneath him and spread them before him. As he looked at her, he realized that her cheeks were red, but her grin was cheeky, and as that boosted his confidence, he was quick to lean down and begin kissing her against the fabric of her underpants.

She was wetter for him than he would have expected, and he didn’t mind rubbing his nose against the silky fabric, hearing her breathing grow heavier because of it.

When his fingers curled around the fabric that rested on her hips, he heard her voice beg him: “Yes… Take them off…”

He was not going to refuse his lady, and as he started to shrug her pants off, she closed her legs again, not really revealing a glimpse of anything until he had tossed her underpants to the side and gently spread her legs again, and he blinked twice as he realized she was nearly completely hairless down there.

He had never seen anything quite as smooth, and he was stunned with silence for a few moments, before she suddenly said: “I had a wax this morning!”

He blinked again, then realized that she had gotten that done at the spa.

“For me?” he asked incredulously, almost like he had just gotten a puppy for Christmas, and she giggled because of his innocent tone.

“For me too,” she reminded him with a grin, biting her lip as she lay back again, her legs now spread before him in a rather inviting manner.

Though he wanted nothing more than to spread those lower lips, he also wanted to thank her, and for a brief moment he crawled up to kiss her mouth, which she responded to very eagerly. “You’re so amazing,” he whispered, before he placed a quick line of kisses lower down her body, until his head was once more positioned between her legs.

Moana looked down at him as he pressed his hot tongue right where she had wanted to feel it, and she moaned as she rolled back her head. Her hand reached for his head, coming to rest on top of his bun, not really guiding him, but just wanting to feel his soft hair underneath her fingertips.

He was just teasing her at first, exploring every inch of her skin with his tongue, licking and tasting her until he gently probed her opening, and her moans became needier because of it.

Luckily, he picked up on that, and when he started flicking his tongue against her clit, she knew she was soaking wet for him. He did not need to be told that, for he could feel it himself when he gently pressed one finger deeper into her. It took no effort at all, and she almost wanted to shout that she wanted more than just his finger, but she bit her lip and tried to restrain herself – after all: her body wasn’t limited to one release a night and there was no need to rush this.

Her release came sooner than expected. It wasn’t just because he seemed to know precisely what to do to get her to come, but also because she wanted him more than anything, because she still felt an insane amount of attraction to him and because – in her own experience – she had already waited too long for this, and when she finally came undone, he picked up on it from the way her walls clenched around his finger.

He looked up at her, at the heaving of her chest as she panted and the way she relaxed into the pillows when it was all done, and he sweetly licked her and his fingers clean before he made his way up again, his hands by the sides of her head as he looked down at her.

“Was that alright?” he asked softly, and she smiled happily at him as she nodded.

“More than alright…”

Where she had seen almost nothing but lust in his eyes before, she now also saw kindness and affection and insecurity – and it seemed to her like he was waiting for her consent before he did anything more.

“Kiss me,” she said softly, and he slowly leaned in to do just that.

For a little while, she could taste herself on his lips, but she honestly did not mind as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Slowly, he was beginning to lean more of his weight onto her, and she realized that he truly weighed a ton. It wasn’t like she couldn’t take his weight, but it was making breathing a little more difficult, and with a push of her hand against his chest, she urged him to lay to the side, which he did without hesitation.

Now she was the one that was bold as she started to feel him up through the fabric of his underpants, and the teasing glances she shared with him were only exciting him more. She seemed to know what she was doing, and even more so when she pushed him back completely on the bed.

“Let’s help you out of those, shall we?”

He didn’t resist at all. He raised his hips a little as she pulled down his underpants, and she bit her lip as she looked down at him.

He was a little anxious as he feared that perhaps he would not please her, but when he noticed her shy but excited grin, he realized he didn’t have a reason for his insecurity.

Moana was slightly amused by the fact that his penis lacked any tattoos, and also relaxed by the fact that his penis wasn’t as massive in size as he was. Though a bit thicker than most, she knew that she could take him, but before she went that far, she wanted to return a favor.

As she placed herself between his legs, she let her hands roam teasingly from his thighs to his belly, touching nothing but the skin around his member. He was wet with desire for her, and when she finally brushed the back of her hand against him, just for a second, she noticed how he twitched and let out a needy breath.

Deciding she had teased him enough for now, she took him in her hand and slowly began to jerk him off. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, and Moana loved to see him so desperate for her touches.

Though she didn’t consider herself to be an expert, she at least wanted to try to tease him some further by giving him head, and as she started licking him clean, his breathing only grew louder. It was enough incentive for her to take him in as far as she could, moving her lips over him a few times, suddenly realizing that he was gathering her hair so it didn’t get in her way.

Looking up at him, she realized he was staring at her, a half-smile on his face and his cheeks quite red. If anything, he seemed grateful, and though she was a little bit shy, she took him in again, glancing up at him to see if he liked it.

To her pleasant surprise, he was able to express his own desire crystal clear without saying a single word. She could read his gratitude and surprise and enjoyment from the way he moved his lips or closed his eyes, and it wasn’t particularly difficult to learn what pleased him best that way.

It took a few moments before she knew exactly how he wanted it, and he had tossed back his head completely now, no longer able to look at her as he moaned in both pleasure and agony.

“Don’t… Moana…”

At those words, she immediately stopped, hoping she hadn’t done something wrong, but he was quick to explain.

“I don’t want to come just yet,” he muttered, rubbing his face with one hand, and as Moana looked down, she saw that he was leaking a little bit of cum again, but she kept her hands and mouth to herself this time.

Instead, she started kissing his stomach, and as he began to chuckle, Moana grinned.

“Ticklish?” she wondered, and as she gently teased him by moving her fingertips over his sides, he chuckled again but quickly grabbed her wrists to stop her from continuing.

“Please, don’t,” he asked, but he was smiling still.

She nodded her agreement and as he let her go again, she instead moved away from him and grabbed the box of condoms. Pulling one out, she offered it to him.

“Will you eh… will you put it on?”

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to do it, but she didn’t want to risk accidentally ripping it with her nails, and she was glad he took it from her without hesitation.

“Of course…”

He didn’t hide from her as he put it on, and Moana curiously looked on in approval before she took the wrapper from him and left it on the nightstand again. Next, she moved to straddle him, and realized that she hardly could rest both of her knees besides his hips – he was simply too big – and he was quick to notice and realize it would be awkward to continue this way.

As he sat up, he wrapped one arm around her back, holding her in place as she dug her heels in the sheets this time.

“This should be easier,” he whispered gently, and his sweet tone earned him another kiss from her.

She was truly grateful that he was thinking along with her, and they kissed for a good while longer, until she was aching to feel him inside.

As she reached for him, he helped her out by positioning himself in front of her entrance, but she would need to lower herself onto him at her own pace, and he supported her back as well as he could.

She looked him in the eyes as she slid onto him, so slowly that she hardly appeared to be moving at all at first.

Whenever it felt too tight, she’d move up a bit again, before she lowered herself once more, and she repeated this over a dozen times before it felt like he had completely filled her up, and she threw her head back as it almost felt like too much.

“Move with me,” she whispered, and as she began to roll her hips, so did he.

Their rhythm was completely in sync, and though they were quite slow, Moana thought she would not last very long this way.

“Feels so good,” she muttered, closing her eyes for a few moments. “I’m gonna come.”

“Yeah?” he asked, surprised but eager to learn that she didn’t need direct stimulus to her clit for that – and that it didn’t take very long for her to get to that point.

“Yeah…” As she looked him in the eyes, he could see how dazed she looked, like it would only be a few more thrusts now. “Kiss me.”

He hungrily obeyed her, cradling the back of her head as he pulled her closer in a sweet embrace.

As he continued his gentle thrusting, he realized that the friction was almost becoming too much for him as well. He knew that he wasn’t going to last long, but only when she would come once more, he would allow himself his release as well.

The moment he felt her clench around him, he could not hold it any longer himself, and with a few more frantic thrusts, he moaned into her neck as he felt his climax overtake him. They were both panting, and she seemed to come down from her high first, a little surprised when she realized he was now completely still as well. She had been so focused on her own release that she had hardly been aware of his.

“You came?” she wondered in surprise, and he had a goofy grin on his face as he looked at her.

“Yeah?”

She chuckled at that response, but the sudden movement caused him to slide out of her and he hissed before he bit his lip.

It had also been a bit of an awkward feeling to her, and she kissed his cheek sweetly as she asked: “Shall we wash up? In the love tub perhaps?”

She had a cheeky smile on her face, and he soon matched hers.

“Hell yeah!” he replied, holding onto the condom rather awkwardly as he rushed out of the room, and Moana laughed as she saw a naked Maui hurry away from her. Licking her lips as she realized she wasn’t done with him just yet, she followed him, knowing that if she had anything to say about it, this night would last a while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so much longer than I had first promised. Had a few real-life issues that really knocked me up for a bit. (Got laid off at the job I'd been doing for the past 11 months.) I'm okay though - no reason to fuss. Just need to look into finding a new job. (Part of me is like "Publish something!" but I have nothing but finished fanfics... Can't publish that. Gotta write something original for that. Working on something, but prioritizing fanfics all the time... *sigh* Will probably end up doing a job I don't like...) Luckily, there have been so many of you that have been so sweet and worried and supportive in comments <3 Not to mention those darlings among you that have gifted me artworks inspired by the story. I think I'm gonna save them up until the end of the story and post them all in a separate "Fanart" post.


	8. Chapter 8

They relaxed in the tub for a great while. Maui at first sat rather awkwardly, making himself as small as possible so as not to take up the entire tub to himself, but after she urged him to lean back and moved to sit between his legs, he was finally able to relax. With her back against his belly, she lifted his hands and put his arms around her before she took the time to study the tattoos on his arms, and once she was done with those, she studied those on his legs. With his arms free again, he played with her hair for a good while before he insisted on massaging her breasts.

She did not complain and enjoyed it very much, and when the water eventually got cold and they got out, she suddenly insisted on drying him off.

It was a strange gesture, and at first he didn’t know what to make of it. Afraid to let her down though, he agreed, but he had already made up his mind to repay the favor. Allowing her to do this would only allow him to do the same.

He wasn’t sure what to make of her – of _them_ together. As she dried him off, she was being submissive and gentle and caring, and her caresses were soft and careful – but he also already knew that passionate and lustful side of her.

She inspected his tattoos as she dried the water off his skin, eventually saying: “Are these tattoos based on the legends of the demigod Maui?”

He was a little shocked that she had studied him that intensely, but then he grinned widely. “Yes! You’re actually the first person to ever realize that!”

She lifted an eyebrow as she looked at him. She didn’t understand how that could be possible, until she suddenly considered… “What? You’ve never slept with an islander before?”

He blushed now, not entirely sure what to tell her about his sex life. It wasn’t particularly the stuff of legends.

He scratched the back of his head as he avoided her gaze. “Haven’t spent much of my adult life on the islands, to be honest. And eh…” He gulped before he blurted out: “Haven’t had that much of a sex life either.”

Moana wasn’t sure how to interpret that. Though she tried to not put a value to such numbers, in his case, she did. Maybe because she wanted to know how to interpret this thing between them. Was she one of a hundred, or something more special than that? She hoped the latter.

“Like… how many hands do you need to count your old partners?” she wondered in as casual a tone as she could muster, hoping it wasn’t considered rude, and as she saw that he only seemed to tense up, she regretted asking it. But even then, he still replied.

“Half a hand? Less than half a hand? Sort of?”

He didn’t seem happy to admit it, and Moana was honestly a little shocked. A guy like him – so beautiful and kind and clever – with hardly any lovers in his life? He was in his thirties. It just sounded lonely to her. And it wasn’t like he was bad with ladies – he had done everything right – at least to her.

“Did you have like… like a long-lasting relationship at some point?”

He shook his head, answering as casually as he could: “Nope. Not really.”

“I would have expected more,” she said honestly, walking around him so she could start rubbing his back dry, though she quickly clarified: “I mean… Don’t you have to punch the ladies away from you? You are gorgeous, and you have great dance moves, and you’re sweet and funny…”

He chuckled, finding her words endearing. Blood was rising to his cheeks as he tried not to blush at her praise.

“Actually… when you travel as much as I do… Those that are looking for stability, won’t chase after a guy like me. There are some that are into me as a fling, but that’s not something that appeals to me. I suppose that I have let plenty of women down that were interested in me.”

As she moved to rub his shoulders dry next, she was quiet for a moment. Was he interested in her as a fling? Even when he had just stated that he usually wasn’t? Then again… These were rather unique circumstances. It had always been meant to be a romantic holiday – maybe he had just allowed himself to open up to the possibilities in a similar way that she had.

“I’ve had a few lovers myself,” she admitted, feeling like he wasn’t the only one that had to spill the secrets of his love life. “Countable on one hand too… I was… curious, is probably the best term – and attracted to some part of them. I crushed on them, or on the idea that I had of them. I don’t know. I never really saw things as they truly were – almost as though I lied to myself. In some ways I can’t complain, in other ways I do. I think I made some wrong choices in the past and sometimes I wish I could undo them.”

“You’re too young to live a life of regret,” he replied gently, turning around as he took the towel from her hands and wrapped it around his waist. He took a towel for her and began drying her off without asking her, drying her arms first. “You shouldn’t look back so much. What’s done is done – the past is the past – and you’re in the present now, with me.” As he looked down at her, he had the warmest smile on his face, and Moana felt her knees go a little weak while he patted her chest dry. “I truly can’t imagine anyone I’d rather be here with.”

“Me neither,” she quickly said, agreeing with him whole-heartedly.

As he wrapped the towel around her back, he continued drying her off, but with his arms around her, she only wanted to show her affection for him, and she stood on her tiptoes as she pressed a kiss to his lips.

He seemed surprised, but still welcomed her kiss, and as he pulled away from her, he had such a content smile on his face again that Moana truly did not know what they were now. Would it be wrong to ask? Was it too soon? Too personal?

He distracted her by moving his hand between her legs, apparently intent on bringing her to another release before bedtime, and she bit her lip as he gently rubbed her sensitive spot.

“Do you mind?” he asked teasingly, and she was quick to shake her head.

“Not at all,” she panted, closing her eyes as she realized it was rather strange to be fondled when she was still standing up.

He noticed it and suddenly lifted her up in his arms, carrying her bridal style towards the bedroom. Never mind that she wasn’t fully dry yet – it was warm enough in their room not to be bothered by that.

She could not still the butterflies – she would not have wanted to for anything in the world – and this time he used nothing but his hand to bring her to her climax, kissing her while he did so. Some kisses were light and sweet, others were deep and passionate.

As she came, she looked into his eyes, realizing that he was enjoying it just as much as she was. He wasn’t gloating about it, he was honestly just being compassionate, almost revering her as though she was a goddess. After a few minutes of nothing but sweet kisses and cuddling, while he still had the towel wrapped around himself, he tried again, and though it took a little longer this time, she did not let him down and came again.

When he wanted to have another go a few minutes later, Moana stopped him by gently grabbing his hand and linking her hand with his.

“Maui…” she sighed happily. “You have nothing to prove.”

Part of him wanted to disagree, for he had everything to prove to her. But still, he inclined his head and nodded respectfully.

“You don’t agree?” she wondered, sensing that though he seemed to agree, he thought differently than her.

Shrugging, he admitted: “I just want to be good to you, Moana.”

She smiled warmly. “You are. You’re the best.”

He still had trouble believing her sometimes, but she seemed to be so honest, and it was hard to imagine that she was lying to him. His eyes lit up hopefully.

“Really?”

She chuckled. “There’s no one like you.”

He seemed a little emotional at those words, and as Moana noticed it, she continued: “You’re handsome and kind and funny and you have such an open heart!” She touched his chest while she said that last bit, and noticed that he had tears in his eyes now.

In a loving gesture, she wiped those tears from his cheeks, and as he grabbed her hand, he pressed a few light kisses to her palm.

“You… you’re the first person to say such a thing,” he admitted. “I’ve… I’ve never been enough before.”

Moana hugged him tightly. “You’re more than enough! You’re quite a handful, actually!” she teased him, and as she saw him relax a bit, she rubbed her nose over his.

“You don’t mind?” he asked, insecurity in his voice now, and Moana didn’t understand.

“Mind what?”

“That I’m… Well… Big.”

She frowned, not really understanding how the topic had changed, but then she realized that he had taken her last remark quite literally. She hadn’t meant to imply that he was big when she had said he was quite a handful, but apparently that was how he had taken it.

“I used to be kind of chubby,” he suddenly admitted. “I was apparently a gigantic baby… Grew up into a chubby kid – well… some people just called me fat. As a teenager, I started working out, and I haven’t stopped since. But… Even if I got a lot of muscle mass, I still have a lot of fat too… I understand if I’m not your type.”

Moana didn’t really understand where all this was coming from – so suddenly.

“Maui, I never thought I had a type until I met you. You’re my type. You’re definitely my type. My body tells me so, and so does my brain and my heart. You are the sexiest man I’ve ever seen – and the way you dance drives me wild. You don’t seem to realize how incredibly handsome you are.”

Those words cheered him up, and he smiled.

“Well…” he said cheekily. “I do have very nice hair, I have to say.”

“Amazing hair!” she agreed, letting her hand roam through his curls.

Though she wanted to be optimistic and happy, she couldn’t help but feel like there were things in his past that had hurt him a great deal more than he let on, and as they lay in bed, she tried to get him to tell her about his past lovers. Had these women never shown the common decency to tell him how amazing he was?

It took a while before he gave full answers to her question, and it turned out that the two women he had slept with couldn’t have been more different from each other. Both had hosted him during his travels – and both had never had the intention to keep him around. It was difficult to drag those stories out of him, and perhaps she had to stop insisting or prying into his personal life, but she wanted to understand, and she felt like knowing about his former lovers was crucial for that.

His first lover had kept him around for a month while her husband had been some hot shot in the army, stationed overseas for a war. He wasn’t proud of that at all. He said that he had felt like he needed to repay her in some way for her hospitality, and that she was a rich lady who already had a gardener and a cleaning lady, and that sex had felt like the only option to repay her, especially since she had been the one to ask for it. She had been a bit older than him, and though he had not felt any romantic attraction, there had been physical attraction at first.

“I knew that it could never have a good ending,” he admitted, staring up at the ceiling while Moana lay in his arm, listening patiently. “I didn’t intend to stay there for too long either, but I did become a little attached to her. You know, she was my first, and I did care for her. But the moment she sensed I was developing some kind of love for her, she asked me to leave. She said she didn’t want the drama that came with romance, and that she was faithful to her husband in that way.”

Moana frowned. “Faithful to her husband but still asking you for sex, I don’t see how that’s faithful in anyone’s book.”

Maui shrugged. “I kind of get her. I was just a means to an end. Perhaps my only purpose was to make her feel less lonely with her husband gone. To satisfy her sexual needs. She was very demanding, but a decent teacher.”

“Was it at least fun to you?” she wondered, and she was relieved to see him nod.

“Yeah. It was fun, I suppose. But isn’t sex always fun?”

Now she was the one to shrug. “I’ve had some sex that wasn’t particularly fun.”

As he looked at her with a slightly worried gaze, she quickly smiled.

“No worries. It’s not like it was non-consensual or something. But because it’s consensual doesn’t mean it’s always fun. My first boyfriend tried very hard, but we were both inexperienced and it took a while before it got to anything that could be considered ‘fun’. At some points I was just telling him to stop trying for the night because he was only hurting me.”

Maui seemed alarmed at those words, but she put her hand on his chest to assure him.

“Don’t worry. He didn’t really hurt me – but only because he listened whenever I told him to stop. It’s just… I personally can’t imagine the first times for a girl to be a lot of fun. To me, it just hurt for a while. That’s no longer the issue now, for which I’m grateful.”

“Still… I wish it had been more fun for you.”

“Well… Not all men are as attentive as you are, Maui,” she said warmly, and as she saw him swell with pride, she felt very happy that they were having this talk. “And also, I had another lover that kind of got me excited each time, but then usually it was over before the fun could really begin. At least for him. I think I slept with him four times, and then I broke up with him. I couldn’t imagine putting up with that for the rest of my life, and he didn’t seem to be aware of how inadequate he was.”

“Didn’t you tell him?” he wondered curiously.

“I didn’t tell him he sucked in bed,” she laughed. “I tried to steer him in the right direction. Give him hints. But each time I told him what to do, he was like ‘I know what I’m doing!’ and ‘My dick has pleasured every girl I’ve been with!’, like that was what I was asking for. Now I know that when a guy starts bragging about his dick, I’m in deep trouble and he’s probably going to be horrible in bed.”

He grinned playfully. “I’ll try not to brag about my dick then.”

She chuckled. “You honestly wouldn’t be lying if you did,” she replied teasingly. “At least I could feel you in me. That’s more than I can say for that old boyfriend of mine!”

Maui laughed deeply again. “Moana, you are ruthless! If that guy could hear you right now, he’d be heartbroken.”

She shook her head and wrinkled her nose. “I doubt it. I have a feeling his ego and his heart aren’t in the same place. He didn’t care much for me. I was a means to an end, so I know what it’s like to be used for sex, even when that’s not entirely what you wanted from it. At least your woman was honest with you about it. My boyfriend went through the motions of making me believe there were feelings involved.”

“Ouch…” Maui said compassionately. “That sucks.”

She shrugged. “How about your second one? What was that like? Also a host?”

“Actually…” He was quiet for a while as he thought about it. “It was very strange, but I do not regret that one at all.”

Curiously, Moana looked at him, but he looked away again as he tried to recall it.

“I think it was about five years ago. I had agreed to stay with this woman who was two years older than me, a workaholic type of person who was trying to get her career to the top. She had never been married and she didn’t have a relationship at that time, but she loved to host people to improve her languages. I agreed to stop by her place for a night a week earlier, and I already offered to clean for her, and she was happy with that at first, but then the day I arrived, she was in tears, and I didn’t understand.”

Moana frowned, not understanding either. “What? Why was she crying?”

“Well… Turned out, in her family there was a history of breast cancer, so she got screened every year, and she had gotten results back that said that she had the cancer developed in one of her breasts, and she would have to get started with chemotherapy and was most likely going to have to get surgery to remove the bad tissue at some point. And she was horrified and afraid of everything that was going to come. I sat with her and I talked with her for a long while, and she just spilled out all her fears and her regrets.”

Moana had a compassionate gaze on her face now, trying to imagine how horrible that had to have been to that woman.

“I didn’t feel a sexual attraction to her. She was… not my type, I suppose? But when she said that she was afraid that she’d never again have any feeling in her breasts and that sex would never be the same for her, I asked her if she wanted me to sleep with her that night. I don’t think I was her type either, for she was very surprised by the offer and took a while to accept. But it was definitely the weirdest sex I’ve ever had… Therapeutic, in a way… She cried a lot – but from some sort of mix of happiness and sadness together. I spent a lot of time playing with her breasts, and when it was all done, I hugged her and held her all night, and she cried herself to sleep.”

“Wow…” Moana was very quiet, but also in awe.

“I don’t think I will ever regret that night though,” he admitted. “She kept in touch for a good while, keeping me up to date on her surgeries and such. Last thing I heard from her, she was cancer-free and had had some reconstructive surgery done.”

“That’s good. I’m glad that she’s alright.”

“Me too,” Maui said with a soft sigh. “I hope I never have to do such a thing again though, but I probably would in a second.”

They were quiet for a while as they lay there, and as Moana looked up to him while he looked up at the ceiling, it was like he felt her eyes upon him, and he turned his head to look at her with a smile, but he could see that she had a small frown on her face, and as he raised an eyebrow, she suddenly asked: “Did you have sex with me because I asked you and you felt like you owed it to me?”

She could see how his curious expression turned into a bit of a frown, and he didn’t know what to reply.

“If you wouldn’t have asked, I probably wouldn’t have,” he admitted honestly, and he saw how she grew very quiet at those words.

To her, that was an admission that he would not have chased her if she had not made a move on him, and she felt some disappointment in the pit of her stomach. It made her feel a little anxious, and it was like he could sense that.

“But only because…” He hesitated, before he blurted out: “… Because I don’t want to hit on you, only to be rejected by you, and then have to share a bed with you. I mean… Wouldn’t that leave you a little terrified at night? To have to sleep with a guy who’s into you without knowing if he can keep his hands to himself?”

She was surprised by those words, and relaxed a little. “I suppose it wouldn’t be nice.”

He looked at her for a little while before he gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand.

“I don’t regret what happened.”

She felt a nervous knot in her stomach, wondering what he meant precisely, but she said: “I don’t either.”

Still, her shoulders were a little tense as she spoke those words, and Maui picked up on it and didn’t fully understand it. Wasn’t she being honest with him? Did she have regrets? He felt horrible at the thought that he somehow hadn’t been enough.

“I’m… I’m not sure if I should say this…” He was terrified that he was going to lose her now, that she was going to let him go, even if he did not want to go away from her at all. “But I feel… like I could love you.”

Perhaps it was a lie. Perhaps it was too late to begin loving her, because he already did. But he didn’t want to overwhelm her if this was not what she wanted.

She wasn’t sure what he meant. Was he unsure about admitting it because he did not want to?

“I feel… Like I could love you too,” she said softly, though she didn’t seem to be entirely certain of herself. She already loved him, so why didn’t she just admit it?

She knew why – because she was terrified that it would make him run from her, and she at least wanted to spend more time with him. It was selfish perhaps, but prudence was in order from here on out.

“Should we?” he suddenly asked, his gaze slightly afraid as he looked into her eyes. “Should we love each other?”

Moana’s heart fluttered, and she suddenly nodded. “Yes. For what is a life without love?”

He nodded, agreeing with her. “Then I will love you.”

He leaned closer to her to kiss her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she gave into his sweet caresses.

Now it was like they had to prove to each other how deep their love went exactly, and a few minutes later he was hard again and several more minutes after that, they were once more making love, but this time even more passionately than before. Their moans were a little louder, their kisses deeper, their bodies hotter and their thrusts fiercer. Though he was on top of her, he didn’t rest his full weight on her, and she had her legs wrapped around his waist as far as she could.

When she finally came, all she managed to say was: “Maui… I love you…” and he was so shook for a moment that he didn’t even realize himself that there were tears in his eyes.

He was enjoying himself so much – more than he ever had before – and he continued to thrust as she stroked his hair and cheeks in loving gestures, and when he felt his own release, he too muttered: “I love you…”, repeating it over and over again until he could say no more and his throat was thick with emotion.

As he felt his climax eb away, she once more whispered “I love you” in his ear, and the next thing he knew he was crying. Not the sort of crying that was easy to hide, but the ugly crying with sobs that he did not want to let out, red-swollen eyes and trembling hands, and he didn’t know what to do as he rolled off her and tried to hide his face in his hands.

Moana startled and didn’t know what to do, but she felt for him. Perhaps he was just tired – it was the middle of the night, after all – but she felt like it wasn’t just that. He was going through something for the first time, and it was shocking him to tears, and she could not help but hope that his love for her was as strong as hers for him.

“My love,” she whispered sweetly as she pressed kisses to his sweaty forehead, and he wrapped his arms around her as he tried to hide his face against her bosom. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

“I love you,” she heard him say again, his voice trembling as he did not dare to look at her. “I love you so much more than makes any sense…”

She wrapped her arms around his head, not minding at all that he was hiding in her bosom.

“Love doesn’t make sense,” she muttered. “But it feels good… At least to me.”

“To me too,” she heard him reply, his voice calming a bit again. “But the thought of going without for even a day is killing me now. It’s like I’m addicted and being without you will choke me. I don’t want to go.”

She hugged him tighter, not sure what to say or do. What was going to happen when this little holiday was over? She could only stay in the UK for a few weeks longer, but then she’d need to return home.

“We’re not gone yet,” she reminded him. “We have over a day to enjoy each other’s company here. And after that, we’ll take it day by day… Our love will be tested, but that’s alright, right?”

He nodded, her words calming him a little.

“I… I don’t think I’ve been loved like this since…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but Moana could imagine what was going through his mind. In all his travels, no one had ever told him they loved him – and judging from what he had told her about his youth, only his adoptive mother and father had ever truly loved him. To think that she was the first person in two decades to love this wonderful human even brought a lump to her throat.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” he muttered, rolling out of the bed without looking at her, but she could hear him sniffing as he left the room, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Her poor Maui. Who even knew what the future would bring? For now, she knew that she was going to show her love to him the best ways she knew how. She would wrap her arms around him as they slept – and in the morning, she would see if he was up for the laziest but loveliest morning-sex she could imagine. It somehow didn’t feel like enough, but she would try to find more ways to show him how much she cared, and how much she hoped that there could be a future for them together, no matter where it was.


	9. Chapter 9

Moana was fully aware of how important her love had to be to Maui. He slept closer to her than the night before, their foreheads touching while his hand rested on hers, and by morning, he had his arms wrapped around her completely.

She had assumed that come morning, they would spend some more time kissing and having sex, and she certainly wanted to – but it appeared that he was a little too groggy for more teasing, and as his stomach growled, he headed to the bathroom, but not without inviting her. They took another bath together and he gave her a relaxing shoulder massage. It was enough to turn her on, and though he placed kisses in her neck – which only excited her more – he made no further moves on her.

Instead, he immediately suggested going to breakfast, and she agreed to that, though she did so reluctantly. She had wanted to spend some more time in bed, but his mind seemed to be on food – not on sex. Perhaps that would have to wait until after breakfast?

But by the time they returned to their hotel room, Maui eagerly suggested to go on another hike with her, and so she complied again, even if she could not stop undressing him with her eyes. She wanted him more than she dared to tell him.

During their walk in the cold morning weather, he brought up their return to London.

“The cab will pick us up after lunch tomorrow,” he said slowly as they were walking through a bare but beautiful forest, and Moana felt a slight panic at that news. She loved it here with him – and the thought of leaving the place where they fell in love behind, was a little scary.

“We’re still going to the London Eye together, aren’t we?” she asked, her voice a little insecure, and he squeezed her hand a little harder as it rested in his.

“Of course!” he said warmly. “In fact… There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you all morning…”

His voice was so soft in that moment, so vulnerable, that Moana couldn’t help but come to a halt. He stopped as well, and though he avoided her gaze at first, he eventually looked up to her with a brave smile.

“I know we’ve only known each other for a very short while and that we’ve had a - eh… very physical relationship so far…”

“It’s been more than that,” she interrupted him hopefully.

To hear those words come from her mouth relieved him. He felt the same.

“I’m glad you feel that way too,” he admitted. “But what I was thinking… You told me that you kind of like what I do – the couchsurfing and travelling around – and that you were afraid of doing the same, being a girl and such. Well… I thought… Maybe, while you’re still in the UK… We could travel together before you go back home? I don’t know what hotels you have booked or anything, or if you paid a deposit, but if you want, we can travel around in the UK? See where the wind takes us - together?”

Moana’s heart was racing at a hundred beats a minute, and she gulped heavily as she considered it. The thought excited her, and realizing that she could do this, and that she trusted him, was enough.

Her parents would not approve, but they weren’t with her right now, and they didn’t know Maui. She did.

“Yes!” she replied after a few moments of thought. “I’d love to travel around with you!” Thinking about the hotel she had booked, she suggested: “Let’s stay in London for two more nights once we arrive – there were still a few things on my list that I wanted to see… You can even stay in my hotel room. Not sure if it’s a two-person-bed, but…”

“If it isn’t, I’ll sleep on the floor,” he suggested immediately, eager that she was into his idea.

She shook her head. “We can share the bed?”

“One of us might fall out if it’s too small.”

“You’ll just have to hold me tightly through the night,” she said teasingly, and his heart warmed at her playful tone.

Leaning in, he pressed a soft kiss to her lips, after which he rested his forehead against hers.

“You’re so amazing,” he whispered.

“You are,” she whispered back, gently stroking his cheek, and she could see how he was blushing and averting his eyes like he had never been flirted with.

She wanted to kiss him again – to tell him that she’d love to return to the hotel now – maybe retreat to their room – but once again, he beat her in voicing what he wanted: “Say, want to go swimming after we grab a bite to eat?”

Realizing that she quite liked the idea of watching him all wet in nothing but some swimming shorts, she happily nodded.

As they linked their hands again, they continued their walk back to the hotel, and after lunch, they retrieved their swimming gear from their room before they headed to the swimming pool.

Even if he had seen her naked already, the sight of her in red swimming gear still did things to him, and he sometimes had to remind himself to stop staring – the consequences of staring would have been difficult for him to hide.

The swimming pool was rather small. While the rest of the hotel was very spacious, it appeared that the swimming facilities weren’t meant to be very big or sporty, but were meant for relaxation only. There were a few little waterfalls and plenty of tropical plants around, and the pool was nicely decorated with quite romantic, warm lighting, but there were hardly any other people around, and they could hear how a few French visitors were sitting in the hot tub, laughing and chatting. In the meanwhile, Moana and Maui swam around and talked of beaches they loved visiting.

It didn’t take Moana long before she began talking of her home and of the beautiful deserted beaches she knew around her island.

“Some take a while to get to. When I was younger, I used to go hiking with my dad and we’d camp out near a beach on the east side, so we’d be the only ones there in the morning. We only did that once a year, but we’d watch the sunrise together… Eat coconuts – dad loves coconuts…” She sighed. “I kind of miss that…”

She looked so nostalgic, but he knew what that was like. But he also knew that nostalgia had the power to bring people down once they realized they could not relive the past – so they needed to be reminded that new memories could be made that were similar, and perhaps even better.

“When was the last time you did that?” he wondered, watching her as she stood underneath one of the small waterfalls.

“I must have been eleven,” she replied with a sigh, but as she looked at him, her eyes lit up. “But if you come to Kuaui, I could show you!”

Even though her affections had already been pretty clear, he was still surprised when she proposed that he’d visit her home. Suddenly, it was all he wanted – to walk on those shores with her by his side. And more than that – he wanted it to be his home as well, but he did not voice that yet.

“I’d love that!” he admitted, and he soon joined her under the waterfall, giving her a brief kiss which she eagerly returned.

As they broke the kiss, she looked into his eyes with a playful gaze, and he wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing until he realized she was rubbing her leg against the fabric of his swimming shorts, teasing him, and as he looked down into her cleavage and at her bare belly, his mouth got very dry.

He wanted her badly, and he was getting harder with each passing second, but instead of giving into it, he let go of her and walked – or rather swam – away from it, and he was glad that she did not pursue him in that moment.

Looking back at her, he realized that she was insecure now that he had not returned her affections, and he softly said: “Not here. I can’t hide my arousal very well.”

She eyed the French couple as they sat in the whirlpool, and it appeared like they were kissing as well, and Moana wrinkled her nose.

“Doesn’t look like they’ll mind.”

“I’ll mind,” he said a little sternly, distancing himself a little more, and he said: “I’m gonna swim some tracks. And I want to go to the gym too.”

“Oh…” Moana wasn’t entirely certain what to make of that. Was he not interested in her?

“I’ll eh…” She wasn’t sure what to do. “I’ll go and read something, I think.”

“Ok…” He didn’t look at her because he did not want to risk getting too aroused, and he was only aware of how down she looked when he gazed up half a minute later and saw her walk towards the changing rooms, and he did not dare call after her.

Closing his eyes, he hoped he hadn’t done anything stupid. But he still wanted to do some sports before he joined her again. He wanted to be his best self for her – and he felt like exercising was a crucial part of that.

It was an hour later when he returned to their hotel room, and as he was quite sweaty from all the working out, he headed straight for the shower. He wanted to leave a good impression on Moana, and he couldn’t do that when he was stinky and sweating all over from an intense workout.

When he emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, he only had a towel around his waist before he went to check on Moana. He wondered if she wanted to head to dinner already, but as he entered the bedroom, he immediately saw something was wrong.

She wasn’t reading, like she’d said she would, but instead she was sitting on the bed, her arms wrapped around her legs as she looked down, not meeting his gaze, and she looked pretty depressed.

“Moana…” he said full of compassion, crawling on the bed beside her. “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t reply, feeling like she was stupid for even feeling this way, but that didn’t mean that she could stop her emotions.

His heart was beating a million times a minute – he was certain that he’d done something terribly wrong now – but he wasn’t entirely sure what.

“Moana?”

Reaching out for her hand, he gulped when she pulled it back, and his lip trembled in fear now. He had never been so afraid to lose anything or anyone before, but he hoped that she would soon tell him what was going through her mind.

“Talk to me,” he whispered, and as she looked up into his eyes, she started crying.

She saw so much affection in his eyes that it made her feel like perhaps she was making a fool of herself. Perhaps she had been misinterpreting some signs. Perhaps her crush on him was making her oddly emotional and unpredictable. Perhaps she was tired and homesick and god-knew-what-else. Perhaps she was just seeing ghosts.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized immediately. “I’m… I’m upset.”

“I can see that,” he said gently, tilting his head to the side. “But I don’t understand why…”

Her voice trembled as she tried to explain: “I’m… I feel like we aren’t on the same level.”

He hated the way his lungs seemed to squeeze together, and it made it a little harder for him to breathe. He needed to figure out what it was that was bothering her – if he didn’t, it could all be over much sooner than he would want it to. “In what way?”

“You’re not into me the way that I’m into you. Physically, I mean.”

He was shocked to hear those words coming from her mouth, and he stared at her for a few moments before he suddenly frowned.

“What? I don’t get where you get that from…”

He seriously could not understand how she thought that. He had easily fought about five erections that day, though that was not something he was eager to share with anyone.

“Well… This morning… you didn’t seem to want to stay in bed, and in the swimming pool, you quite literally pulled away from me. I’m… I’m too clingy for you.”

He started blushing fiercely as he realized how that could have given her that impression. “Considering the swimming pool, I’ve got a shy side, you know, and I’m not used to showing my affection in public – least of all in a swimming pool, which I think is a little bit gross to the other people there if I were to start grinding against you or something!”

He said that last sentence in such a desperate way that Moana actually thought it to be a little cute, and her lips curled into a small smile.

Relieved that she seemed to have a smile on her face again, he continued in a more relieved tone: “And as for not having sex with you this morning… I was kind of hoping to save it for this evening… Also, all that sex last night left me kind of hungry. I wanted to go have breakfast.”

His explanation was so simple – so honest – that she now felt even more ridiculous for thinking he did not want her in a physical sense. She should have realized that men prioritized food over sex sometimes.

“Also…” He spoke a little softer now, almost secretively as he leaned in a little closer. “Sex can be a little better for a guy if we wait a little longer between each climax, you know? I’m half-hard just talking about this!”

Her heart started racing at those words, if only because she still wanted him so badly that she felt like taking his towel and jumping him then and there. Then again, she wasn’t an animal, and she moaned as she put her hands in front of her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized as she rubbed her eyes. “I’ve never behaved this way before, but I’m a bit of an emotional mess. I can hardly control my feelings or my thoughts right now.”

Maui smiled lightly. “You know, they say that when you’re in love, your feelings of passion increase… but so do your feelings of anxiety… Your body’s probably in some sort of a crisis right now – hormonally and such. One of the not-so-fun side effects of being in love.”

She moaned again as she took in those words and tried to get over it. “I feel so shallow. It’s like my body just wants to bang you and if it can’t, my brain tries to make up reasons why you won’t, and then I want to try harder – and then I get rejected again – and then I feel horrible. And you don’t deserve the way I’m behaving, accusing you of not caring for me.”

He was honestly feeling a little relieved that her tears were caused by her attraction to him – and not by a lack of love.

Moving closer to her, he pulled her into his lap and gave her a big hug, and she found herself clinging to him as she pressed her forehead against his chest.

“I feel so needy,” she sighed, and he kissed the top of her head.

“Don’t apologize for that. Honestly, I’m glad you’re still into me. And if you are up for it, I’d love to engage in some mind-blowing sex with you this evening.”

She chuckled as she heard his amused tone, and as she looked up to him, she saw that he wasn’t upset with her at all.

“So – just to ease my anxiety – but you’re not sick of me or anything?”

“No – not at all,” he assured her warmly. “The opposite.”

She was feeling how peace was returning– not just in her mind, but in her heart as well. She was finally able to breathe at a regular pace again, and she felt her heart rate return to normal. He had succeeded in calming her down for now.

“So how about we go for dinner, hey?”

She nodded eagerly to that question, and he added playfully: “And if you want, you can watch me change?”

Her eyes immediately lit up, and she nodded eagerly.

Glad to see that response, he grinned widely.

“You gotta know, curly, that I’m completely yours. Got that?”

She happily smiled and nodded at him, and he took some clothes from his bag before he untied the towel around his waist, aware how Moana had now rolled onto her stomach and had her hands underneath her chin as she looked at him, a wicked grin on her face.

Unable to stop his blush, he put on some black trunks, and Moana hummed approvingly.

“Sexy,” she complimented him. “Sure you don’t want me to tap that?”

He laughed deeply at that playful suggestion, and winked at her. “Later. Definitely later.”

As he flexed his arms for her, she only smiled wider. “Damn it, Maui, you drive me insane with lust that way.”

“Am I being too cruel?” he asked teasingly, puffing his chest, and he quite enjoyed her flirty gaze on his body.

She licked her lips and shook her head. “It would be crueler if you wouldn’t let me look.”

When he was done dressing up in a white shirt and some jeans, Moana rolled off the bed again, and she gave him a big hug, taking a deep breath before she apologized.

“I’m sorry for being so clingy. I’m usually pretty laid back… I’ve never acted so weird before… I’m not particularly proud of it.”

After he kissed her forehead, he put his hands on her shoulders.

“Please, don’t apologize for all that. I’m honestly just happy that you care for me. Now let’s go get something to eat, alright? The sooner we’re done… the sooner we’re back here…”

Seeing how wide she grinned at those words, he pressed a quick kiss to her lips before he grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

“Besides, it’s about time you had your dame blanche.”

“Damn right!” Moana agreed eagerly.

“Chocolate will be good for you,” he added. “Makes you feel even sexier.”

“Oh Gods, if that’s true I’m going to come just looking at you while we have our desserts.”

He let out another deep laugh, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head before he pulled her out of the room and they headed to the restaurant together.


	10. Chapter 10

They hardly slept at all that night. Sometimes, one of them would fall into a slumber, only to be awoken by the other pressing sweet kisses to their cheek, and they hugged and remained close to one another like it was their last night on earth.

It wasn’t – not really – but neither of them were eager to leave their wonderful hotel behind.

They skipped breakfast to catch up on sleep and spent a great deal of time making love once they woke – wanting to hold onto the memories of the two of them growing closer to one another in that place for as long as they could. They didn’t want to spend one second apart after that. They bathed together, dried each other’s hair together, packed their bags together and headed to lunch with a heavy heart.

Then, after they turned in their keys, they were picked up by a cab, and as they drove back to London, Moana’s head rested on Maui’s chest. Staring at the roads and fields and forests and cities that they passed, some quiet melancholy befell the two of them during the long ride. They remained quiet for hours, and just held hands while Maui stroked the back of Moana’s head, his fingers wrapping up in her hair, both of them lost in thoughts.

But once they were back in London – the city that never slept – they seemed to wake from their reverie as well. The cab dropped them off at Moana’s hotel – and the contrast with the wonderful castle from before couldn’t be bigger. This hotel was loud, small and smelly, with no particular style, and they had no interest to hang around there. Instead, they headed into the city as fast as they could.

They ate at a Garfunkel’s before they headed to the London Eye. It was already dark outside, but they did not mind at all as the view of London by night was quite stunning. As Moana took a few pictures of the wonderful scenery, Maui just looked at her with a smile, trying to paint a mental picture of her in that moment – his beautiful Moana, so wise and kind, but also still seeing the world for the very first time in many ways. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to keep her safe.

For some reason, they didn’t speak much about Moana’s departure those first days. They remained in London for a few nights, before they finally began their small couchsurfing adventure. Maui had reached out to old couchsurfing friends, and soon they found themselves hitchhiking all the way up to Sunderland, where they only staid for a few hours to walk by the beach and grab something to eat before the hitchhiking continued and they headed to a host in the area of Nottingham. They arrived in the late evening and were offered a couch in a tiny yet cozy cottage. Their host was a middle-aged man who was widowed and was very eager to hear about Hawaii, and so Moana spent a great deal of time giving him all sorts of travelling advice.

She quite enjoyed the conversation, and as he watched her, Maui felt like she had the qualities of a perfect couchsurfer. She was social and kind and not very demanding, and when they woke early in the morning, it was her idea to make the man a lovely breakfast and clean up the living room.

They were gone again by eleven, and headed out into the town of Nottingham to gather some food and do some sight-seeing. Maui ate a lot of fruit during the day, and Moana was starting to recognize the moments he needed food in order to keep up his high energy. She didn’t join him every time he ate a banana or an apple, but then again, she didn’t exert herself either. He often carried her bag around for her, saying it was excellent exercise and would save him a trip to the gym.

By the evening they were on the road again, hitchhiking off to the next host that had agreed to take them in, an hour or two away.

They travelled like this for several days, spending the nights at strangers for no money at all, just repaying the effort by contributing in the household or cooking meals. In the few quiet hours, Moana would read books while Maui worked out. Sometimes she’d even sit on his back as he did push-ups, and their hosts eagerly joined them for their company in the evening, discussing such a wide variety of topics – from politics in the UK and Europe, to the tastes of imported tropical fruits, to the beneficial effects of Marihuana, to indie movies and their lack of Oscar nominations, to global warming and conspiracy theories, to colonization and its effects on the racism of a country – each host was eager to discuss something with them, and Moana loved how open and honest everyone was, even if they didn’t always agree on all topics.

By the time they reached Edinburgh, Maui wanted to earn a bit of cash, and he got in contact with some folks he had once staid with several years before.

Soon enough, they were headed on their way to an art class at a university, and Moana still couldn’t really believe what they’d be doing there.

“How often do you do this?”

“As often as possible,” Maui replied casually, trying to remember the university from the last time he’d been there as he led the way through the broad corridors. “There are universities in all major cities – art classes everywhere – and nude models with my physique are quite hard to come by.”

“If not impossible to come by,” Moana said in awe. “And how much does it pay?”

“I know this one pays about twenty pounds an hour, but doesn’t cover travel expenses, which I don’t mind. So for three hours of posing, I’ll get about sixty pounds. And sometimes there are opportunities for more modelling work that present themselves. I’ve even had artists invite me to stay at their place in return for me posing for them.”

“Lady artists?”

“Even lady artists!” Maui said, amused that Moana seemed to be a little jealous of that.

Moana was surprised. “You didn’t tell me any of this when you told me about all your girlfriends.”

“I don’t think this has much to do with romance or sex, to be honest. I’m just offering my body as a reference for art. And most artists are just happy to get a new subject to draw. There isn’t anything sexual about it, in my opinion.”

“No kinky requests from any of the ladies?”

“Nah. Not really. I suppose I’ve been fortunate, and if they would have asked anything I would have disliked, I just would have said no. Most ladies stay classy.”

As Moana thought about it, she figured that he had a point and that she was being jealous. At the same time, she assumed that she would find it strange to be the one posing for strangers. Then again, Maui didn’t seem to be afraid of anyone – least of all strangers – and she was beginning to see how she was more alike him than she had initially thought.

During the art class, she was allowed to sit among the artists, and some even gave her some charcoal and paper so she could join them in sketching. Though she didn’t consider herself much of an artist, she eagerly followed their lead, and she did realize that – though she loved Maui – drawing him kind of forced her to look at him from another perspective – a non-sexual one, even.

During Maui’s break, he put on some pants again and eagerly came to see her work, and the artists paid him many compliments about his muscles and tattoos and hair and how it was very different from most models they had had the pleasure of drawing.

Soon enough, several of them had their eyes on Moana as well, asking her if she would not like to take up modelling as well – but she declined shyly, saying that she had never really given it any thought.

The art instructor did ask Maui if he was up for modelling again the next afternoon, to another class, and extended the offer to Moana, asking her if she wanted to model for the same class as Maui would. She was hesitant, and upon noticing this, the instructor gave her some more time to think about it, asking her to inform him in case she changed her mind.

The result was that this was what Maui and Moana discussed for the rest of the evening. One of the students offered them the opportunity to crash at his place, and in the evening, when the student was asleep and the house was quiet, Moana and Maui lay whispering to one another on the pull-out couch. She was in a bit of a panic as she tried to imagine what her parents would say about her decision to nude-model, or what would happen if anyone would record it and sneaked out pictures of her.

“Don’t worry, Mo,” he whispered gently. “None of those artists are ever busy taking pictures – they’re too busy drawing. You won’t even see them hold a cell phone while they’re working on their art. And though the artists would possibly think you are sexy in some way, they respect you as a person too. You are posing for art, not trying to get them excited as if you were a showgirl – they realize that better than you do right now.”

Sighing and thinking about it for a long time, she eventually said: “Sixty pounds would be nice though… Not for me. But for you…” She offered him a shy smile. “So that you could come to Kuaui sooner. And I suppose that nude-modelling would be something to get off my bucket list. And it makes more sense to do this on the other side of the world than it would to do this in Kuaui. That would be awkward. Everyone knows each other there.”

“It’s up to you, curly,” he said kindly. “I can’t make this decision for you. I won’t. But you saw the folks there. You sat between them. You must have some kind of feeling from them – a feeling of trust or distrust. If I were you, I’d go with that.”

Moana was quiet for a few moments, before she nodded. “You’re right. I think I should do it then. If not now, then it’s going to be never. I just need to be brave and go for it.”

He pressed a sweet kiss to her forehead.

“You’ll do great, I’m sure of it. And then I can draw you for a change!”

“You like to draw?”

“Like? Love! Who do you think designed all these tattoos?”

Moana was in awe hearing that, and Maui soon began to lament how he didn’t have much time for drawing while he was travelling, and that he would love to pick it up again in Kuaui – how he’d even love to see if there was a tattoo shop where he could help out with his designs. Moana assured him that there were several – and he was very happy to hear that.

As she rested in his arms, she held him tightly. Though her departure was imminent, he seemed completely certain about following her to her island as soon as he had gathered enough money for the trip. He hoped a few weeks of hard work would be enough – and she hated the insecurity of not knowing when she’d see him again.

After she was done modelling the next evening, she offered the money to him, and he promised to repay her as fast as he could, with the first money he’d earn in Kuaui. She told him that there was no need for that, but he insisted.

With Moana’s departure creeping closer every day, Maui was starting to feel a bit of a panic as he realized he needed more than two thousand pounds to make it to Moana’s island. He’d need to get a flight from London to Los Angeles, and then one to one of the Hawaiian islands, and he hadn’t even calculated how much he needed for the boat trip to Kuaui.

He was a little depressed as he tried to look up the prices for his trip on his smartphone, and as Moana looked over his shoulder and saw what he was looking at, she realized that he didn’t really have the money to join her soon.

She didn’t spend much money on souvenirs after that, and the evening before she returned home, she offered him an envelope. He expected a card, something personal, and was a little taken aback when he saw that it was money – over five hundred pounds, from the looks of it.

“You can pay me back in Kuaui,” she said warmly, her arms wrapped around his neck. “I just don’t want to be parted from you for too long. These weeks with you have been some of the best of my life. Our relationship means so much to me… I can’t wait to continue it once you’re home with me.”

Maui wanted to argue that she should not give him that money, but a selfish part of him wanted to hold onto it. If it meant he’d be with her a few weeks sooner, then it was worth it. Pressing his forehead to hers, they closed their eyes and held onto each other for a few moments, just enjoying each other’s presence like that, trying not to cry at the prospect of saying goodbye to each other for what would probably be more than a month.

“We can chat until we see each other again,” Moana offered bravely. “I’ll add your number on whatsapp. With any luck, we will only be apart for a month. With less luck, two months. We can do this.”

“Yes, we can,” he repeated in a determined tone. “I will work as hard as I can to gather the money. I’ll look for a day job – maybe in a restaurant – and I’ll try and do some modelling in the evenings.”

Moana was flattered by the promise that he’d try his hardest to get all the money together so fast, and as they began to kiss, it seemed like they didn’t want to stop.

It was a good thing that they had booked a hotel room for that last night together – for during their times couchsurfing, they had not really given into any sexual urges. Maui obeyed to the unspoken couchsurfing rule that “if the host doesn’t get sex, you don’t get it either” – and so they had been on their best behavior while they’d been on the road. But this night, there was no need for inhibitions, and their lovemaking continued until the early morning, with both Moana and Maui having several emotional moments where they cried because they weren’t sure they wanted to go without the other for so long. It was bittersweet, but it also proved to them how deep their love went. They could both conclude that their relationship was very special to the both of them.

Moana hardly got any sleep, and still had tears in her eyes as they were about to part ways at the airport before noon.

It would have been emotional even if she had had a decent night’s rest, but as she was rather exhausted from all the travelling and the prospect of leaving her love behind, she could not stop her tears from falling as they kissed each other goodbye at the gate. When the last call for boarding came, they were both a sobbing mess, kissing and crying, sniffing loudly as they didn’t want to part.

“Thank you…” Moana sighed, realizing that she still had so much more to say, but no time to do it. “For everything you’ve done for me.”

“No, thank you, Moana,” he whispered in return, touching her cheek gently. “I love you so much.”

“And I you,” she replied with tears in her eyes.

“I’ll come to Kuaui as soon as I can. We’ll talk about it later, once you get home. Just text me, we’ll work it out.”

She nodded bravely, and as he pressed one final kiss to her lips, she could not bear to look at him anymore. It would surely break her heart.

As she walked away from him, the tears only got worse, to the point that when she sat down on her seat in the plane, the people around her were all looking at her, wondering why she was so emotional, but they let her be.

As Maui left the airport, he stood outside for a good while, looking up at the planes as they took off one by one. Though he didn’t appear to be a sobbing mess on the outside anymore, he felt like a wreck on the inside. Life appeared so empty again with Moana gone. Each plane that took off left him with a deeper sadness within, but along with it came the determination that he needed to work harder than he ever had before in order to be reunited with his Moana. He wouldn’t let her suffer for too long.

Soon, he’d be by her side again – and they’d watch those beautiful Hawaiian sunsets together, as they had always been meant to do. He was ready to go home – to the only home he’d be willing to have – to finally live by Moana’s side.


	11. Chapter 11

As Sina stood waiting at Lihue airport, she couldn’t wait to see her daughter again.

Truthfully, she was a little worried. During the beginning of her stay, Moana had sent so many pictures over whatsapp – and that had lasted until about three weeks ago. Shortly after she had arrived in London, the pictures had sort of stopped, and she had only gotten a few sporadic messages since.

The few times they had spoken, Moana had seemed happy on the phone, but also a little secretive. A mother could easily pick up when her daughter was hiding something, and judging Moana’s giddy voice as they had talked, she assumed there had been a boy involved.

Her daughter had sounded in love – and now she wasn’t certain in which state she’d find Moana once she arrived.

The moment Moana walked up to her, Sina startled. She looked exhausted, sad, and also paler than usual. Perhaps the paleness could be attributed to the horribly cloudy climate in the UK, and the exhaustion was probably caused by the journey that had taken Moana about twenty hours. But the sadness, that was something that hurt Sina more than anything. She had hoped her daughter would at least be happy to have returned.

Sina didn’t fail to notice that Moana had been checking her cellphone and put it away before she reached the gate.

As she ran up to Moana, they shared a big hug. She did not fail to notice how tightly Moana clung to her, and how she seemed to want to hide her face in the crook of her neck for as long as she could.

“Moana, sweetheart, it’s so good to see you again!” Sina said warmly, squeezing her daughter to herself. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“I’ve missed you too,” Moana replied, her voice sounding sad and exhausted in equal amounts.

“Your father’s at home preparing you a wonderful feast! Come, I’ll take your bags. My, my, are they so heavy because of all the souvenirs?”

Sina’s cheerful tone was in no means a signal that she had not picked up on the fact that something was wrong, but she knew that if her daughter wanted to talk about something, she would, eventually, and for now she was desperate to see her daughter smile – if only for a brief moment.

Once they were in the car, Sina noticed how the cellphone didn’t leave Moana’s hand – and how she kept on checking if she received any messages every few minutes – but it didn’t appear like she needed to send any texts back. There was a bit of a worried frown on her daughter’s face, but luckily that frown disappeared the moment she got home and her father came out to greet her, along with most of the neighborhood.

As they ate, there was music, and Moana gave everyone their souvenirs. Everyone happily talked to her, and it appeared that she was genuinely smiling and happy to see them all. But when evening came and people headed home, Sina picked up on how Moana was on her cellphone again, this time sending a few messages, biting her lip as she did so.

While Moana was sitting outside on the porch, she immediately put her phone away again when her father brought her some mango juice and sat down by her side, and Sina figured that she’d give the two of them some time together.

Determined to get all the laundry out of the way, she started unpacking Moana’s bag, taking out clothes, shoes, toiletries, as well as tourist guide books and other reading materials, and she didn’t notice at first when something fell from Moana’s agenda.

When she spotted a strip of pictures on the floor, she immediately picked them up, and she gulped heavily when she noticed that Moana hadn’t just been with any boy – but with a man, an islander, from the looks of it – who even put Tui’s size to shame.

Sina’s heart started beating faster as she saw how – in one of the pictures – her daughter was kissing him on the cheek – and how intimate their honi appeared to be. The attraction between the two of them was very clear, and Sina couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t said a single thing about this man yet – whoever he was. Was she ashamed because he seemed older than her? Or had it already ended badly and was the pain too much to share right now?

She put the pictures back into the agenda and continued sorting everything out, unable to get this stranger out of her mind. She hoped Moana would not keep his existence a secret for much longer.

 

 

Tui was blissfully unaware of the existence of that man, but the upcoming days, even he noticed that Moana’s behavior was very different. When she wasn’t in the room, he did express his concerns to Sina.

“She really seems to be missing London a lot. She’s hardly eating, and I can’t help but feel like she’s missing her friends from there.”

“She doesn’t really mention her friends from there a lot,” Sina said in a worried tone as she was doing the dishes, and as Tui grabbed a towel to help her, he shrugged.

“Maybe she just needs some time to readjust. Culture shock and all that.”

But time did not seem to do Moana a lot of good. Even while she was watching TV, she would seem to check her phone every few moments – but she never seemed to get the text she was waiting for, and she never typed back.

Sina had waited for Moana to open up to her for the last fourteen days, but her daughter had not divulged anything personal about the man she had met in the UK. To Sina’s feeling, it was now beginning to take too long, and if she could help her daughter, she most certainly wanted to.

While they were driving home from grocery shopping, Sina tried to start the conversation that was long overdue.

“Sweetheart, I can’t help but feel like you’ve been a little heartbroken since you’ve returned from London. Did you meet someone special?”

She voiced it very carefully, and so she did not see it coming when she heard Moana sniff and start to cry.

Realizing that Moana was too emotional to talk, she pulled over the car by the side of the road, and as they were on a winding road that was not too far from the beach, she stepped out of car and walked around it to open Moana’s door. As Moana got out of the car, she embraced her mom tightly, and Sina gently stroked her hair

“Sweetheart, I realized something was wrong the moment you came back… You shouldn’t hold this stuff in… Tell me what happened, please?”

After they walked the short distance to the beach, they sat down in the sand, and Moana started talking.

“His name is Maui,” she began, her voice broken. “I was in love with him, and he said he was also in love with me, and that he’d come to visit me… I thought he’d want to give our relationship a go, but it’s been weeks, and he hasn’t texted me back a single time.” That was the hardest thing for her to admit, and she shuddered and felt sick as she admitted: “I feel so used – I thought that it was all real between us, but now I’m not so sure anymore.”

Sina felt furious with this Maui now, and as she hugged her daughter, she swore to herself that if she ever met him, she would hurt the asshole that had dared to use her daughter in that way. And then she’d tell Tui about it, who would hurt him ten times as badly.

But she’d keep it secret for now, because she wanted to go first.

 

 

Sina didn’t tell Tui. Not while her daughter was still hurting so much. Moana had also asked her not to, and she had promised to keep it to herself. She tried to go out more with her daughter, to keep her mind off these things, but it was obvious that Moana had given herself completely to this Maui – and now she had trouble finding herself again and being happy on her own.

While she had spent the morning on the beach with her daughter, she headed back home with the promise to gather a nice picnic for them, while Moana could keep their favorite spot under the palm trees. As she walked over the long road home, she passed by an ice cream truck as it was serving both tourists and local children alike. She stopped dead in her tracks, however, when she saw a giant man stand between the kids, a massive backpack on his back as he showed the kids a drawing and pointed to it.

It was definitely _him_ – but his size in real life was even more impressive than it had been in the pictures. He looked different than Sina had imagined him to be – he had his hair up in a bun and wore a black tank top over green shorts, and his arms and the parts of his chest that she could see were covered in tattoos, as were his legs.

He looked like the strongest man she had ever seen, and for a moment she felt as breathless as she could have imagined her daughter to feel in his presence.

She tried to listen to his words as he was looking rather desperate talking to these kids, and she heard him explain: “… looking for her since I arrived here yesterday evening. Her name’s Moana, does anyone know her?”

One of the older kids nodded. “I know her! She lives up the road! I don’t know the house number, but I could take you there?”

The man seemed beside himself with joy and put the drawing back in his backpack, and at this, Sina frowned in confusion.

Why had this man broken her daughter’s heart if he was now so eager to see her again? It hardly made sense.

Or had they lost contact for another reason? Or was he just trying to surprise Moana by showing up unexpected, and did he not realize how badly he had broken his daughter’s heart?

But she spotted no bad vibes from him – nothing that would betray he had ever meant any harm, and so she was willing to trust him too. The one thing that she had found strange about Moana’s tale all along was that her daughter had been so dramatically wrong about him – because that didn’t seem like Moana at all – she usually had a good judgement on people. Maybe it had all just been a misunderstanding.

“She’s on the beach right now,” Sina heard herself say, and as the man looked at her, his mouth dropped a little. It didn’t seem like he recognized Sina, or that he knew who she was, and she pointed in the direction she had come from. “I saw her sitting underneath the palm trees just a few minutes ago.”

She wasn’t going to mention she was Moana’s mother just yet.

The man’s eyes widened and he started hurrying off in the direction Sina pointed to, and as he walked past her, he seemed beside himself with joy again, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Realizing he was rude, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around, and he gave Sina a big hug. She was completely surprised by this, not knowing how to respond to his tight embrace as he lifted her off the ground for a few seconds.

He was off again before she knew it though, and she was left standing on slightly trembling legs.

After he had left the crowd around the ice cream truck behind, he actually started running, going a lot faster than she would imagine a guy his size to go, even while still carrying that massive backpack around.

Though Sina was in no shape to run after the man, she did follow him back, walking as fast as she could, curious why on earth he had come now, after so many weeks.

 

 

Moana had been struggling to keep it all together since the moment she had arrived. She had texted him a few times during the first days she’d been back, but as all her messages had gone ignored, the uncertainty within had only grown.

It felt like it had been years since she had last felt happy, even if it had only been several weeks since she had left London. Though she wanted to hate Maui for ignoring her so rudely, she hated herself more, and she felt like she had not been enough – like she should have been better to him – and that maybe if she had been, that he would have truly been interested enough to continue their relationship. Not to mention that it was hard to forgive herself for falling victim to his lies.

When her mother left her side, she did not have to keep up her mask anymore, and she let a few tears stream freely down her face. In the distance, she could see more people by the beach, but for now she was alone underneath her favorite trees, and she wiped her wet hand on her shirt before she wrapped her arms around her legs again, almost looking as though she was cold, though she wasn’t in this hot weather with her short jeans on.

She sighed deeply. She was enjoying a wonderful view that she should have been sharing with him, but she now never would, and she had never known a single regret that felt as strong.

She startled however, when she heard a voice call out her name – and it wasn’t just any voice.

It was _his_.

Immediately, she unwrapped her arms from around her legs and looked to her side, bearing witness to Maui running across the sandy beach as fast as he could, dropping a massive backpack behind him so he could reach her faster, and in one single moment, all sadness and insecurity made room for an immense feeling of hope.

As she got up on trembling feet, she didn’t know what to do though. Part of her wanted to slap him, another part wanted to kiss him, and so when he stopped right in front of her, exhausted from the running but looking happier than ever, she did just that.

After she slapped him, he looked heartbroken, but when she jumped up into his arms and kissed him next, he realized that he had probably deserved that and he happily held her close while they kissed.

She could not contain her tears, even while they kissed, and she was too heartbroken to speak for a few moments, just standing there and crying instead.

As Maui started to realize what she had gone through, he got teary-eyed himself.

“I’m so sorry, Moana,” he apologized with pleading eyes. “I lost my cell phone, and I never wrote down your number.”

She frowned as she looked at him. It took a moment to take in, but then her confusion rapidly made way for a growing feeling of anger.

“What?!” She slapped his chest, not knowing how else to deal with that news. “Are you telling me that I’ve been worrying sick about you – _about us_ – because you lost your cell phone?! Why didn’t you look me up on Facebook?! It’s not like I have a hidden profile or anything!”

“I don’t have Facebook!” he replied back, not hurt by her slap at all, though he was hurt because he had let her down – and badly. “I changed the information on my couchsurfing profile, hoping you’d look me up! I even wrote in my introduction that I was on my way to you as soon as possible, and that you should send me your phone number if you read it!”

Moana let out a roar of anger, upset that the reason why she had been heartbroken had been so stupid – that they had both been so stupid that they hadn’t tried harder to reach one another. She had never been wrong about their love – she had just assumed too quickly that she had been.

“Why didn’t you go to Harrods?!” she asked him, shouting louder than she wanted to. As quiet as she had been the past weeks was as loud as she was now. She had a lot of frustration built up inside of her, and it all wanted to come out in the same moment. For now, she knew not how to stay calm. “They wrote down my phone number as the contact number for the hotel! They probably still had it!”

Maui looked miserable as she said that, realizing that he hadn’t thought things through at all. With tears in his eyes, he suddenly sat down on both of his knees in front of her, taking her hands in his and pleading for forgiveness.

“I’m so sorry, Moana,” he apologized, feeling miserable as he looked up at her, feeling like her anger was justified. “I’m such an idiot. Please forgive me.”

Seeing how much her words had hurt him and how much he had missed her too, her anger dropped faster than she had expected, and she bent over as she tightly embraced him, feeling how he shook against her as he was the one who was sobbing in regret now.

“I came as fast as I could,” he cried. “Didn’t even go through London, but through Norway. It was much cheaper to get here then. I worked as hard as I could to get here as fast as possible. I missed you so much!”

She embraced him even tighter. “I’m so sorry… I missed you too, Maui… And I’m truly happy you’re here…”

As they both continued crying, she admitted: “I thought… maybe I had just been a game to you. A prize to be won… I thought you were sick of me and that I’d never see you again.”

“What?!” Maui let go of her and looked up at her, shaking his head as he wiped his tears away. He had never looked so offended. “Moana, you were more than that since the moment we met! I always felt like you were the love of my life! How could you believe that I would give up on you like that or consider you a game?”

She could not stop the tears streaming down her face as she bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, Maui. I should have known better, but I really thought you didn’t care anymore.”

He put his hand against her cheek and caressed her soft skin with an emotional gaze in his eyes. He was clearly upset that she had thought he had lost interest in her – or even worse, that she had dared to believe he had played her.

“I’ll always care about you,” he admitted in a hoarse voice. “I love you! And I’m never leaving your side again!”

She had wanted to hear those words so badly in all their time apart, and so she finally let herself fall into his arms, hugging him tightly.

“I love you too!”

As they sat on their knees in the sand, embracing one another as tightly as they could, they suddenly heard someone clear their throat, and as they both looked to the side, Sina stood there, and apparently she had dragged Maui’s heavy backpack along with her.

“You lost something?” she asked him with a smile, and as Maui looked at the woman that had pointed him in the direction of Moana, he frowned.

“Oh, thank you!”

He was a little confused that this woman had followed him – and that she was disturbing such an intimate moment. Strange timing.

“He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?” Sina asked her daughter, raising an eyebrow in an amused way, and at this, Moana chuckled as well, relief washing over her as she noticed that her mother was smiling and just teasing.

As Maui looked at Moana and then back to the woman, he suddenly realized they had the same eyes and the same chin, and he felt his heart beat a little faster.

“Maui,” Moana said, getting up again and pulling him up with her. “Meet my mother.”

“Sina,” she said briefly, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him and crossing her arms over one another. She was sizing him up, and Maui had never felt quite as small before. Small as Sina was, she could be strict as well, and it made him feel ten years old again.

“Ma’am, do forgive me for the heartache I caused your daughter. I did not mean ill.”

Sina smiled. “I heard everything the two of you said. Neither of you was being particularly quiet.” She chuckled to herself. “Now… I must insist that you come home with us for lunch. I was on my way to get some lunch when I saw you were looking for Moana – you must be hungry. Won’t you join us at home?”

He was starving, and didn’t want to seem too eager as he nodded.

“Where are you staying?” Sina continued, and at this, he seemed a little too ashamed to answer, and Moana already knew what was going through his mind.

He wanted to leave a good impression, but was probably sleeping out in the streets with the good weather of the past nights, and he was probably broke from paying for the flight tickets.

“He’s staying with us,” Moana said immediately. “I told him he could last time we spoke in London.”

Maui was confused. They had never really discussed it – and he had honestly wanted to provide for himself – to prove to her and her family that he could take care of them both.

He had actually prepared himself for that conversation already, and so he happily turned to Moana as he said: “Actually, I was staying over at a friend!”

Moana frowned. “You have friends here? Besides me?! Already?”

He chuckled. “Actually, they’re a new friend. I’ve got a job at one of the tattoo shops now! The pay isn’t that great, but I got my own room and I’m in training to become a full artist. Or I will be, come Monday! At first they’ll let me work on designs on paper, and practice tattooing on leather, but before you know it, I’ll have my own clients and people will be walking around with my designs!”

As he was talking, Sina was looking at his arm, studying the tattoos on there.

“You designed those yourself?”

“Sure did!” he said proudly.

Sina seemed impressed, and she smiled as she led the way back home. “Well, if you do wanna stay with us, you’re welcome to. We have a guest room and plenty of space.”

Maui felt lucky that Moana had such a welcoming mother, and as they walked home, Moana finally told her mother how they had really met, and Maui got to tell her in return who he was and where he came from.

Sina’s heart broke for him, for this islander that had no family left, and by the time they arrived home for lunch, she was determined to give him a new home now – to become the loving family he had missed for so long in his life.

While she watched Moana and Maui sit in the garden, holding hands and sharing sweet kisses and loving honis with one another, she was truly happy for the both of them.

When Tui eventually came home and noticed how his wife was looking out the window, he looked over her shoulder, only to freeze when he saw his daughter sit in the lap of a gigantic islander, hugging him tightly.

“Who…”

Sina linked her arm with Tui’s.

“That’s our son now.”

Tui frowned, not understanding any of it, but he realized that his wife was being a hundred percent honest about it. Sometimes she was a little weird like that.

“We’re adopting?” he wondered, raising an eyebrow.

“If Moana doesn’t marry him, yes,” she said with a big grin, and at this, Tui looked even more alarmed.

“Look how happy she is,” Sina ordered him, and as he gazed out the window, he did realize that she looked like his daughter once more – that she was herself again in that man’s presence, and it was like the gloom of the past few weeks had completely disappeared. He had never seen her look happier.

“But… who is he?” Tui asked, still confused. “How did they even meet? When? Where?”

“That’s a long story,” Sina teased him mysteriously. “Let’s just say that Harrods is ridiculous, and that sometimes love is just a game...”

 

 

_THE END_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap, folks!!!   
> Sorry for taking so long to write the final chapter. Sometimes I get scared of finishing a story and procrastination wins...  
> Luckily, Camp Nanowrimo gave me the boost I needed to finally complete the last chapter.
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed Moana and Maui's journey in this story. <3 If you could leave a kind comment if you stuck around until the final chapter, that would mean the world to me. Also - something that always interests me - is knowing where my readers come from. So if you do wish to share that bit of info about yourself, please do!!   
> (I'm from Belgium myself, in case anyone was wondering...) 
> 
> And to all of you who already left comments during the posting of this story... Thank you so much. You have no idea how much a comment can mean to someone who is rather depressed about real-life work. Comments can make me feel more useful than a paycheck can. Don't underestimate your own power when you leave a comment - it's big. :-)
> 
> Big hugs to y'all, and hopefully until another fanfic!


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